Lennon Greggains is ready to ‘give everything I’ve got’ for Wales at the World Rugby Under-20 Championships in Argentina – admitting it is also the ideal platform to push his claims at Dragons.
Greggains has jetted off with his team-mates for a second Junior World Championships, after he also featured in last year’s event in France.
The 20-year-old will hope to take to the field when Wales kick-off their campaign against hosts Argentina today (Tuesday).
And he has spoken about his desire to play a leading role as he looks to impress before a return to changed regional rugby set-up with Dragons later this summer.
“I’ve got to take these five games and give it everything I’ve got because in a way Wales Under-20s is a shop window and it’s a chance for everyone across the world to see what you’ve got,” he said.
“I’ve got to give everything I’ve got in these five games and then I’ll take everything as it comes. We’ll see what happens, but after this year senior rugby will be my first priority.
“Whereas with regional age grade, you’ve got Under-20s and Under-18s to look forward to, but next year I really want to try to become a senior player.
“I think there is a lot of excitement at Dragons for this year,” he added.
“With Chappy (James Chapron_ as the General Manager and a new coach coming in. From what I’ve heard he likes to bring us youngsters through so it’ll be interesting to see what happens. I think there’s a lot of excitement in the Dragons at the moment.
“Opportunities aren’t going to come every week, but when you get them you need to give everything you’ve got and try to show the coach that you want to play for the Dragons. Hopefully they will see that and you’ll become a regular.”
Greggains was a big part of the senior set-up in the final months of the season, after recovering from a hamstring injury that ruled him out for two months.
And he admitted being part of the tour to South Africa was a huge boost as he settled into his role and part in the squad.
“It was nice to be away with the team, I learned a lot,” said the former Newport High School student.
“Towards the end of the season a lot of the transition boys got involved - the likes of myself, Max (Williams), Chris (Coleman) before he was injured, (Ben) Fry, Taine (Basham). They got us all together so we could train with the seniors and I think we all learned a lot from it.”
“We have good people to look up to at the Dragons,” added Greggains.
“We’ve got the likes of Aaron (Wainwright), Ross (Moriarty), (Harri) Keddie, Ollie (Griffiths), they’re four really good players. You’ve also got Jumbo (James Benjamin), Shanksey (Lewis Evans), you’ve got a lot of talent there.
“There are people we can look up to, the likes of Keddie and Ollie, and the way they look after themselves and the way they conduct themselves. It’s definitely something me and the boys stride to be and want to be like one day.”
Greggains focus for the next month will be on Under-20s action and he believes Wales can go into the World Junior Championships in confident mood.
“People talk about how tough our group is, but I think if you put us in any of the three groups we’d be saying the same thing,” he said.
“There’s not an easy game in the World Cup. Every single game’s going to be tough and if you’re not on top of your game you’re going to struggle to win.
“We know we’ve got a massive, physical group, Argentina, France and Fiji, and that’s a tough group.
“But we think we can counter act that, we know we can play good attacking rugby and with physical teams I think that works in our favour.
“We’ve trained really hard and we’ve been working on how we can combat that and I think we really have a good chance in this World Cup.
“If we can win the first two games then I think it’s there for the taking. And we know as a team, the better we perform in the World Cup the more people will look at you as individuals as well.”
As for the opening fixture with Argentina, Greggains acknowledges a fast start is imperative.
“We know we need to take the momentum out of their game in the first 20 minutes,” he stated.
“Otherwise it will be a very tough game because once they get a bit of a spring in their step. We think we are more than capable of turning that in our favour and doing something special at this tournament.”
I've got to take these five games and give it everything I’ve got... it’s a chance for everyone across the world to see what you’ve got...
