21 June 2013

Wales' Under 20 rugby dragons have made it to the final of the Junior World Championships for the first time – and their opponents will be England. Watch the showdown live on S4C on Sunday, 23 June, with Sarra Elgan, Lyn Davies, Rhodri Gomer Davies and Ken Owens. The programme Rygbi: Pencampwriaeth Ieuenctid y Byd 2013 starts at 5.15pm with kick off at 5.45pm (English subtitles available).

It's sure to be a dramatic finale, after both teams showed fantastic promise in their semi-finals against South Africa and New Zealand. But England go in to the game as favourites, after their 15-28 win against Wales in March which saw them win the Six Nations Championship. Is this Wales' chance for pay back?

"Wales were disappointed with their performance against England in the Six Nations, because up until then they had played very well. It was a poor performance on the day and the coaches and players have acknowledged that," says former centre Rhodri Gomer Davies, who will be commentating live on the final for S4C. "But they have raised their game to a higher level for this competition, and although it will be a hard task against the Six Nations winners, I think they can draw confidence from the way they've played recently."

Wales' performance in this competition is to be praised with three wins out of three in the group stages, against Samoa (42-3), Scotland (26-21) and Argentina (25-20). And in the semi-final against the Springboks, they fought to the death to secure the 17-18 win. A try by winger Ashley Evans in the dying minutes of the game followed by Sam Davies' conversion, sealed their place in the final.

"It was a phenomenal game, and an amazing defensive performance meant South Africa had no time at all to play rugby," says Rhodri Gomer Davies. "The combination of performances by the two half backs Rhodri Williams and Sam Davies was fantastic. But someone who especially caught my eye was Jordan Williams as the most well rounded player I've seen at this level for a long time. The way he ran past men on the field, he was like Shane Williams at his best and he made it look easy.

"With the Welsh boys doing well in the Lions' squad, seeing Wales lose to Japan was disappointing, but I hope now that the Under 20s can bring back a world title to cap off the season in style," adds Rhodri.

S4C has followed the Wales Under 20 team throughout the competition, and both the Argentina and South Africa matches can be watched in full online, on demand, at s4c.co.uk/clic. The S4C Rygbi site – s4c.co.uk/rygbi – has highlights of all the Wales Under 20s matches in the competition.

Rygbi: Pencampwriaeth Ieuenctid y Byd 2013

Junior World Championship Final: England v Wales

Sunday 23 June 5.15pm, S4C

English subtitles