WALES under-20s attack coach Jason Strange says the players will relish being the underdogs once again in France this weekend, writes Andrew Penman.

The Welsh youngsters take on their French counterparts at Saint Gaudens, tomorrow (kick-off 7.55pm GMT), looking to replicate their opening weekend victory over England.

And Ebbw Vale head coach Strange, who joined the Wales under-20s set-up last month, says the team will look to learn from their mistakes but also take the positives from their 36-34 defeat in Scotland two weeks ago.

“The first performance against England was superb and to score five tries against Scotland away from home you would think that we would have won that game comfortably,” said Strange.

“The positives are that the group would have learned a lot from that and it can only be good for their development and for us as coaches.

“I don’t think we would have said that immediately after the game but in hindsight, when we reflect on the game, we can learn from it.

“For the majority of the game we were really good but it just shows that at this level you have to pretty much have the all-round game.

“There was no-one more disappointed than the players after the Scotland game because it was a real chance to get the right result there.

“But we’ve got to keep it in perspective. Some of those players are 18 or 19 years of age and they will certainly gain from that.

“We go to France as underdogs but we certainly relish the challenge and we go there full of confidence and we believe we can get a result.

“We were underdogs against England as well and the desire in the camp to prove people wrong was probably what won us the game,” he added.

“We go to France as underdogs but if we can get our top performance level then we have an opportunity to win the game.”

Wales also have the chance to put down a marker for this summer’s World Rugby Under-20 Championships in Italy.

“We’ve got France in the World Cup group as well so if we can go there and get a win then that will certainly help in our preparation for that,” said Strange.

“The rugby we’ve played has been the most pleasing thing. The first half against Scotland was outstanding and we’ve just got to keep building on that.”