Cardiff Rugby Under-18s will prepare for the WRU Regional Age-Grade Championships with a friendly against Exeter Chiefs in Devon today.

It has been a busy summer for the age-grade set-ups with a wider group of promising players handed fresh opportunities as the region strengthens its pipeline of talent.

With a number of under-18 eligible players promoted into the senior academy, the club have been able to widen their talent pool with opportunities handed to those who narrowly missed out last season and under-17s to step up.

Academy Manager, Gruff Rees said: “We currently have a lot of our Under-18s lads training with the Senior Academy, which is brilliant for their development, but it’s also given us the capacity to pick a wider squad. 

“A lot of these boys are training with us three times a week now, with full S&C support, analysis support and professional coaching from the likes of Saul Nelson and Josh Turnbull.

“Friday is a great opportunity for them to pull on the shirt, demonstrate the progress they have made and potentially put their hands up.

“This group have also carried out a full round of testing at the National Centre for Excellence alongside out WRU colleagues, which gives us some great data for benchmarking ahead of the RAG block.

“We also have nine of the group travelling with Wales Under-18s to Scotland for a national round-robin festival.”

Cardiff’s Under-18s Regional Age-Grade Championship kicks-off against xxxxx on August 16.

Attention is also turning to the Under-16s, where Stu Bradfield has spent the summer working across Cardiff’s talent identification sites through the Dewar Shield.

Friendly fixtures will now take place through August before their championship gets underway in September.