Nineteen-year-old wing Deon Smith is determined to take his opportunity to hold on to a starting spot as Wales play their third game in this year’s World Rugby u20 Championship in Argentina.
The former West Monmouth Comprehensive pupil will become the latest Dragon to start at the Championship, after being handed a first start alongside Tom Devine for the clash with Fiji.
“I’m really happy to grab the starting jersey,” said Deon, “now it’s about getting out there, taking the opportunity and trying to keep it.
“It’s frustrating when you are on the bench, but you also learn a lot and can see a lot when you go out there, so you take from it when you can and make a good impact when you come on."
After Wales lost to champions France the target is now to claim four wins from the five games at the tournament.
“Winning four from five is achievable. We wouldn’t set the target if we didn’t believe we could achieve it so it’s down to us as players with the coaches support to put our heads down and deliver
“We were disappointed as a squad about the result against France, but they are a very good side, so we look back and take the positives from there and that’s been the big focus of ours this week to get a good result against Fiji
“You’ve got to be excited no matter who you are playing, but hopefully there will be lots of opportunity this weekend and we can get the rewards.
"Everyone knows how Fiji will play, and it’s a big game for us to bounce-back. We keep saying it’s a five-game series so we can still come back with four wins which is still a fairly good result for us.
After their first two games in Rosario, Wales travel to Club de Rugby Ateneo Inmaculada, Santa Fe for their third game.
“I'm looking forward to seeing a new part of Argentina, it will be little different from the 4G pitch, but it’s all experience we will learn from and we can get out there to get the right result."
