Tom Bowen believes Wales U20s can do something special during their World Championship campaign in Italy later this month.
They comprehensively defeated Italy U20s in a warm up fixture at the Arms Park on Friday night, and enjoyed a statement win against their England counterparts at the end of the Six Nations earlier this year.
Wales are in a group with Argentina, France and Italy, but given their recent form, and the talent in the group, the 20-year-old wing says they can go far in the competition.
“Camp has been pretty good,” said Bowen. “We’ve carried some confidence, belief and little bit of momentum from the back end of the Six Nations, beating England.
“Had some good exercises for the boys in the two games, getting a good result against Italy.
“I think we’ve got a massive challenge ahead, some massive games for us, and I think we’ve genuinely got a chance to do something special with the boys we’ve got.
“We have a very talented and competitive group and I believe we could go on and do something very good.
“I think we all have our little targets and it’s always played in the back of our head on where this group can go.
“We all know the potential of this group, but we haven’t put any pressure on ourselves in that sense that we need to get here.”
Bowen is making his return from a hamstring injury which kept him out of Cardiff’s tour of South Africa.
He’s hoping to be fit for Wales’ opening game of the World Championship against Argentina.
“I was obviously gutted to miss out on South Africa with Cardiff. I think it would have been an unbelievable experience, but it’s a part of the game, I suppose, learning how to deal with these injuries.
“It’s my first real injury, which has set me back from playing for a little while, but rehab’s gone really well. Credit to the physios, they’ve worked really hard to get me back on the field and get me into this squad.
“The injury is going well, so hopefully I’ll be fit for Argentina, fingers crossed.”
Bowen enjoyed a breakthrough season with the Blue and Blacks, but he isn’t getting carried away and is willing to bide his time.
That could mean playing for Cardiff RFC under Dan Fish, an experience he has enjoyed in the past and he says has been beneficial to his game.
“For me, it’s probably just put my head down and try and work as hard as I can, train as hard as I can.
“If I can get into that first team a little bit more, then so be it. I’ll be happy with that, but again, the quality of the RFC is really good.
“I’ve got another year of 20s next year, so hopefully get into that squad for next year and keep working hard with the RFC.
“I really enjoy playing under Fish as well. I think I’ve learnt a lot playing in our league this year. I think that’s hugely benefited me going forward and helped me when I made that step up onto the senior stage.”