Wales under 18s kick off the first of their two international matches this Saturday when they take on English Lions at Wigan St Patrick’s RLFC (kick-off 12.30pm).
The second game is at The Glyndwr University Racecourse Stadium on Sunday 2nd November when they take on the Irish youth before the European Championship game between the same two nations.
Wales have selected most of their side from the up and coming South Wales Scorpions under 19 side who only lost one match throughout 2014. One of them, Paul Edwards, played Championship 1 rugby this year for the Scorpions, while he and a further four – Curtis Davies, Connor Davies, Ben Jones and Zak Williams, have all signed professional contracts with the club for 2015.
Coaching this side has been Paul Emanuelli assisted by Mike Grady in a Scorpions role reversal. But after Emanuelli was selected for the full Wales side this autumn, Grady has taken charge for the two matches and will this week be assisted by Scott Giles and injured Wales senior side player Ashley Bateman.
Grady said: “Training has been going really well with the under 18s side in preparation for the games against England and Ireland. Myself, Paul and of course the players have been working hard putting things in place to ensure we are as prepared as we can be for the games coming up.
“But credit must go to the boys, they have trained hard and there all wanting to play, which will make selection very difficult, but I'm sure whatever side we go with on the day they will be ready and do themselves, their family and their country proud.
“England and Ireland will both present challenges for us, as with most English sides they will be very experienced in Rugby League, well drilled and of course will just come straight out the blocks at us.
Wales won last year’s fixture 40-10 at Taff’s Well RFC.
WALES U18
Harry Boots, Rhys Brownsell, Connor Davies, Curtis Davies, Rhys Davies, Paul Edwards, Joe Festa, Morgan Jeffries, Ben Jones, Alex King, Shane Lee, Gethyn Lloyd, Dan Maiden, Liam Maule, Joseph Symons, Jordan Thomas, Marcus Webb, Zak Williams (South Wales Scorpions), Morgan Knowles (St Helens)