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The hooker is widely considered to be one of the best young talents in Welsh rugby
Highly-rated schoolboy Tom Howe has been named in the Wales U20s squad to face Scotland on Friday after making the difficult decision to miss out on his school’s side cup final victory at the Principality Stadium to play in the international fixture.
The Cardiff academy hooker, who is widely considered to be one of the best prospects in Welsh rugby, has been a key player for Ysgol Glantaf this season but was left with a big decision to make after being called up by U20s head coach Richard Whiffin for the first time to face the Scots in Merthyr Tydfil.
With the games just 48 hours apart, Howe opted to miss out on Glantaf’s thrilling 28-26 Welsh Schools and College U18 league cup final win over Coleg y Cymoedd at the home of Welsh rugby on Wednesday, to allow himself to pull on the Wales jersey on Friday.
A powerful and explosive carrier with a strong set-piece, he is regarded by Glantaf director of rugby Llywarch ap Myrddin as an “outstanding” prospect and a future Wales international, despite his young age.
He has also been name-checked by Whiffin in the past and identified by many behind the scenes as one of the hottest properties in the Welsh game.
“Tom is as high a calibre a player that has come out of this league,” said ap Myrddin ahead of his side’s victory on Wednesday. “He is very good and he’ll achieve what he wants to achieve in the game because of the type of the player he is, because of the background he’s had, in terms of the type of character he is.
“He is quite a unique player,” he added. “He’s going to be an outstanding player for Welsh rugby moving forward. Hopefully, he’ll be one of many of this crop of U18, U19, U20s boys that will go on to represent Wales and win in a red senior jersey in a few years. They’ve got that mentality.”
While Howe was in attendance on Wednesday as a water boy, the Glantaf boss admitted that the decision for him to not play in the final should not have been left to the player and should have instead “been taken out of his hands”.
“I’ll be honest, I think the union went the wrong way about it, putting it on to the player,” he added. “It should never be down to the player to make that decision, it should have been taken out of his hands. [It’s] the wrong way to go about it, definitely.
“We’re talking about experiences, playing in finals, cup finals, learning how to win in the stadium which he will hopefully be doing in the next couple of years in a red jersey. But in terms of actually for him as a player, yes, I think it was the wrong decision.
“But we back everything with Tom and he’s been a very big part of the season this year. We’re very proud of Tom and where he will be and what he’ll achieve in the game moving forward.
“These boys, they’ve been excellent in terms of wishing Tom well, as we are. Once the decision has been made, you’ve got to back that 100% and everything we do, we get behind Tom and Wales U20s on Friday.”
Howe will start in the front row for Wales at the Wern on Friday afternoon (KO: 12.30pm), alongside Dragons loosehead George Tuckley and Scarlets tighthead Jac Pritchard.
Friday’s captain, Cardiff lock Tom Cottle, is joined in the engine room by Gloucester’s Oscar Rees, while Scarlets’ Osian Williams is alongside Dragons duo Ryan Jones and Evan Minto in the back-row.
Cardiff’s Sion Davies and Scarlets’ Carwyn Leggatt-Jones make up the half-back pairing, with Bath University’s Luc Anfield partnering Osian Darwin-Lewis of Cardiff in midfield. Bristol Bears’ Evan Morris and Cardiff’s Rhys Cummings are on the wings, with Ospreys’ Lewis Edwards completing the back three.
Pritchard, Cottle, Jones, Minto, Davies, Darwin-Lewis and Edwards all featured for Wales in last year’s U20 programme, as did scrum half replacement Ellis Lewis.
“We’ve got a lot of boys coming back in from last year that we want to gain more experience then there is a few new guys who will get their first experience at U20s rugby leading into the Six Nations,” said Whiffin.
“[The returnees] know the way we want to play, they have an understanding of the intensity level that U20s rugby is about, so I think by having a core group from last year helping the younger guys is a good blend going into the Six Nations.
“Over the course of the U19s game against France, the U20s game against Scotland tomorrow and next week’s U19 game against England we’ll probably have 50-60 players play,” he added.
“That is without a handful of players that are playing Champions Cup rugby like Deian Gwynn and Challenge Cup rugby like Tom Bowen and Steffan Emanuel that will come back into the set-up post-Christmas.”
Wales U20: 15 Lewis Edwards (Ospreys), 14 Evan Morris (Bristol Bears), 13 Osian Darwin-Lewis (Cardiff Rugby), 12 Luc Anfield (Bath University), 11 Rhys Cummings (Cardiff Rugby), 10 Carwyn Leggatt-Jones (Scarlets), 9 Sion Davies (Cardiff Rugby); 1 George Tuckley (Dragons), 2 Tom Howe (Cardiff Rugby), 3 Jac Pritchard (Scarlets), 4 Oscar Rees (Gloucester), 5 Tom Cottle (Cardiff Rugby – capt), 6 Osian Williams (Scarlets), 7 Ryan Jones (Dragons), 8 Evan Minto (Dragons)
Replacements: 16 James Talamai (Dragons), 17 George Leyland (Bristol Bears), 18 Callum Donaghue-Proud (Cardiff Rugby), 19 Osian Williams (Bristol Bears), 20 Joe Denman (Scarlets) 21 Cerrig Smith (Dragons), 22 Ellis Lewis (Swansea RFC), 23 Steff Jac Jones (Scarlets), 24 Thomas Williams (Scarlets), 25 Jack Hoskins (Ospreys), 26 Joseff Jones (Cardiff Rugby)
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