Ospreys backrower Sam Morgan is the bolter in the Wales U20s squad for the World Rugby Junior World Championship.<\/p>\n
The 18-year-old is uncapped at this level but a series of outstanding individual performances for Wales U19s resulted in the Morriston prospect being elevated into the U20s squad ahead of more established players.<\/p>\n
Elite sport is in Morgan’s blood. His father, Mathew, carved out a professional career in both rugby and football, a sporting pedigree now reflected in his son’s rapid rise.<\/p>\n
JOIN OUR WALES RUGBY FACEBOOK PAGE Latest news, analysis and much more<\/a><\/p>\n “My father was a professional footballer and then he played rugby after his football days,” Morgan tells WalesOnline.<\/p>\n “He was a centre-half in the Manchester City academy and had offers from Leeds, Arsenal and Chelsea.<\/p>\n “He also played for Swansea City<\/a> but injuries held him back.<\/p>\n “As he got older he fell into love with rugby and played for Swansea<\/a> RFC before the regions came in.<\/p>\n “He played on the wing originally. He had a lot of pace but a big frame and later in his career he moved into the backrow.<\/p>\n “But his career was shorter than it should have been due to a serious knee injury.<\/p>\n “He’s been my biggest inspiration and he’s coached me.”<\/p>\n Morgan is part of a strong pool of backrowers in this Wales U20s squad which includes co-captain Deian Gwynne, Caio James, Evan Minto and Alex Ridgway.<\/p>\n But the Ospreys<\/a> prospect is hoping to force his way into the starting XV with Wales set to face hosts Georgia, defending champions South Africa and Uruguay in the pool stage.<\/p>\n “I’d say I’m athletic and explosive,” said Morgan when asked what his point of difference is.<\/p>\n “I think that’s important for any backrower. It is something I’ve worked hard on but it is also something I’ve got a natural talent for.<\/p>\n “I love getting my hands on the ball but I just hope I can bring a real work ethic and energy to the team.<\/p>\n “It’s nice to see they (coaches) recognise my hard work and it has paid off.<\/p>\n “I’ve taken all the learnings I can from the coaches and I’ve learnt a lot from the players around me. It’s the right step in the right direction.”<\/p>\n Morgan made his Super Rygbi Cymru debut for Swansea RFC at the end of the season and has been training with the senior Ospreys squad.<\/p>\n Growing up Justin Tipuric was a player Morgan idolised and he is chomping at the bit to learn from the Ospreys defence coach.<\/p>\n “I’ve had some exposure training with the senior Ospreys squad,” he said.<\/p>\n “I’ve learnt a lot within the short time I’ve had with them and I’m really excited for the upcoming seasons to pick up even more information.<\/p>\n “They’ve got great coaches there like Justin Tipuric so I’ve got some good people to look up to.<\/p>\n “I definitely looked up to him growing up.<\/p>\n “I think he was one of the most underrated players of that generation. He was a quality player and he’s a quality bloke.<\/p>\n “I haven’t had too much time with him but I’m really looking forward to spending more time with him. There’s a lot of great professionals.<\/p>\n “It’s a great environment and it is very friendly. For that to be my home region I’m quite proud of that.<\/p>\n “The likes of Ryan Smith is a great professional and all the boys were welcoming. Ross Moriarty who is a fellow Morriston boy knows some of my family so I’ve had some good chats with him.<\/p>\n “He’s another good role model. They are all brilliant.”<\/p>\n Having already gained exposure to the Ospreys’ senior environment, Morgan’s next objective is to translate his promise into opportunities on the field, with a competitive first-team appearance firmly in his sights.<\/p>\n Before that, though, his attention is fixed on Wales Under-20s’ challenge in Georgia, where he says a recent talk from Steve Tandy has provided the squad with added motivation ahead of the championship.<\/p>\n “Steve Tandy came to speak to us as a collective and we had some really wise words from him,” he said.<\/p>\n “He told us to have some belief in this group.<\/p>\n “We are a tight group and why should we write ourselves off from going far in this competition? There’s no need to.<\/p>\n “We’ve taken a lot of learnings from the Six Nations<\/a>. We’ve got a talented squad with some good players.<\/p>\n “There’s no reason we should write ourselves off. Wales are a tough and strong nation and we should go far.”<\/p>\n Follow all of our channels to ensure you stay up to date with the latest Welsh rugby news. Sign up to our free daily newsletter here<\/a> and our WhatsApp channel here<\/a> for all the breaking news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ospreys backrower Sam Morgan is the bolter in the Wales U20s squad for the World Rugby Junior World…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":656527,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[8934,5903,101,56,54,55,13685],"class_list":["post-656526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-premium","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wales-under-20"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/656527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}