Alex Mann was left proud of how his Wales under-20 side silenced the doubters, after securing maximum points against Scotland on Friday.
After a tough opening defeat to Ireland last week, the Cardiff academy player led his side to victory over Scotland at Parc Eirias, crossing the whitewash in a Player of the Match display. The back row, who made his Blue and Blacks first team debut in Europe in December, was joined on the scoresheet by Joe Hawkins, Morgan Morse and Harri Houston.
Following a sour aftermath to the defeat in Cork, the captain believes his side can now look forward to the next match against old rivals England with excitement and confidence after picking up their first win of the campaign.
“I really enjoyed it because we’ve been called soft all week, and we aren’t up to it so we proved a lot of people wrong with this win,” said the back row.
“We had to be harsh on ourselves and look at our own games before looking at anyone else’s. We showed how much this shirt means to us, and the boys really took last weekend’s loss to heart.
“That’s what we needed to do, and switch on for the Scotland game. I’m really proud of the effort of the boys.
“Last week tested our character, and we spoke about it all week that we needed a reaction. That’s certainly what we did.
“The backs controlled the game well and put us in good places. We are a team that plays 80 minutes, so we always believe we are going to win especially in the latter part of the game.
“We backed the game plan, and we came out on top.
“That’s the big one Wales versus England. We’ll have a good week training, and prepare for the game. I’m really excited about it.”