Wales U20s captain Ryan Woodman has hit back at his side's critics and insists they won't be intimidated by the Junior All Blacks in this Saturday's World U20s Championship opener.
After a disappointing Six Nations campaign, which resulted in a whitewash, most pundits have given Wales' young guns no chance in South Africa this summer, especially considering they've been drawn in the pool of death alongside New Zealand, France, and Japan.
But Woodman is adamant his side can cause their fair share of upsets over the next few weeks in what is the first World U20s Championship for four years.
READ MORE: Meet Jonny Green, the Harlequins enforcer hoping to give Wales' tyros an edge in South Africa
"The last three times we've played them we've won two of them so I don't think them being New Zealand as such is anything intimidating," said Woodman when asked if Wales stood a chance against the Junior All Blacks.
"Our expectation among ourselves is to beat them. We can't go out there with any other expectation of ourselves.
"New Zealand are going to be a good team but there's no reason why we can't beat them.
"Our backline is one of the most dangerous backlines in the competition, our forwards are working very hard everyday to get better in the areas we know we need to.
"If we beat New Zealand there's no reason why we can't beat the other two. We had a heavy defeat against France in the Six Nations but I know all the boys are looking forward to playing them again. ,
"We want a chance at redemption and we want to go out there and show everyone, and them, that we aren't the team who played them (France) last time."
Poll: How far will Wales go at the World Cup? Have your say here or below
The Six Nations didn't go to plan for Wales U20s but when you break down their performances in every game there were more than a few reasons to be optimistic they can improve this summer. There are a number of players with big futures such as Ospreys back-rower Morgan Morse, Scarlets scrum-half Archie Hughes, and powerful Bath centre Louie Hennessey to name but a few. And Woodman is confident results will be better this time around.
"When everyone goes on about our results in the Six Nations I ask them, did you watch the games because if you'd watched the games you'd know these results aren't representative of us as a team," said the 19-year-old.
"During the first-half against Ireland we were in the lead but then they went on to win the Grand Slam. During the last 20 minutes we get a yellow card which we didn't recover from.
"If we'd won that first game then it's a completely different competition. Against England we were five points down at one time, Scotland we were five points down and in the last five minutes we have a man who goes over the try line but unfortunately he has a double movement.
"Things like that you don't see if you haven't watched the games, and you wouldn't know of. You'd just think 'oh Wales are the worst team' but personally I don't think we are anywhere near the bottom. We have been working hard to put an 80 minute performance together.
"We've had a 50 minute performance, a 60 minute performance, and a 70 minute performance. Now it is just about putting everything together and working on the areas of our game that we perhaps left out in the Six Nations which Mark (Jones) has come in and changed. Hopefully, we can come away with some good results."
Woodman is also full of praise for new head coach Jones who replaced Byron Hayward last month, and has revealed an area the former Wales wing has identified as a work on for his side.
"30-40% of tries at international U20s level are scored from counter attacking, receiving the ball from a kick or turnovers," he said.
"In the Six Nations we didn't score a single try from that. We scored all our tries from set-piece or phase play. He's massively focused on those areas where we left points out, and we've been working hard on these areas where we can score tries."
With playing budgets at regional level getting slashed significantly over the next couple of season,s the expectation is more Wales age-grade stars will get pushed through far quicker than they would have been previously. And Dragons man Woodman admits this will also be a motivating factor for Wales' stars of the future in South Africa.
"For the older boys in the squad it will be massive motivation, especially for the boys who have already had their first few caps," he said.
"They'll be thinking the regional coaches will be watching so I better play well, and I'm in with a chance of getting a good few starts next season. It will be a massive motivation for quite a few guys."
READ NEXT:
The forgotten man who could force his way into Wales' final Rugby World Cup squad
Who is Taine Plumtree, the Scarlets' exciting transfer target sure to interest Warren Gatland
The return of Mark Jones, the Wales star who went around the world to become the best coach possible
WRU make historic appointment as independent chair revealed and new director joins board
