Sir Thomas Picton pupil Kemsley Mathias won a first international cap for Wales Under 20s last night as he appeared as a second half replacement in their thrilling win over Ireland Under 20s at Donnybrook.

Wales prevailed 41-38 after a frenzied 80 minutes, with tries from James Botham (2), Tommy Rogers, Max Williams, Tommy Reffell and Callum Carson. Cai Evans added four conversions and a penalty.

But the Irish took things to the wire as Jack O'Sullivan (2) Angus Curtis, Johnny Stewart and Harry O'Brien replied with tries, with Harry Byrne also kicking four conversions and a penalty and replacement Connor Dean adding a conversion himself.

Mathias only debuted for Wales 18s last summer on their tour of South Africa, but the Carmarthen Quins prop, who has also appeared for Crymych in Division One West and the National Plate this season, has impressed sufficiently to be included in Jason Strange's Six Nations squad.

And although he missed out on his country's first two games against Scotland and England, he made an impact off the bench last night with the Welsh scrum in the ascendancy for those crucial closing stages, which saw the Irish fight back from 41-31 down to set up a nail biting finish.

Another Pembrokeshire product in Ryan Conbeer, who appeared against both the Scots and the English, didn't feature last night but will be in contention for a return against Italy Under 20s on Friday, March 9th in Parc Eiras.