WALES Under-18s head coach Geraint Lewis wants to finish their tour with a flourish when they face South Africa Schools on Saturday after declaring himself pleased with his charges’ progress in beating Italy 41-15.

The Welsh youngsters scored five tries in the victory in Cape Town to strike back after a narrow 23-17 loss to South Africa Schools in their opener in the Under-19 International Series.

Newport Gwent Dragons wing Joe Goodchild scored just two minutes into his debut and further tries came from Cardiff Blues prop Harri Dobbs and Scarlets wing Ryan Conbeer as Wales led 21-5 at the break.

Italy rallied to make it 24-15 but Dragons full-back Will Talbot-Davies, of Solihull School, went over before Ospreys fly-half Phil Jones clinched an excellent victory.

Coach Lewis said: "It was a pleasing result and good to get reward from the effort the boys have put in during this tour. We managed to put some good facets of play together against a very competitive and physical side.

"It was a very physical game but the boys stood up to the onslaught and for periods of time we had a lot of territory.

"It's always our ambition to score tries and when we kept the ball for periods of time and added width to our game we gave the Italians problems and produced some good attacking rugby.

"South Africa Schools A comfortably beat England so that shows the standard of South African rugby and shows we will again have to be at our best to get the performance we want on Saturday.

"It would be nice to finish off the tour with a positive result but more than anything, it's important the boys take their chance to get the most out of the experience with Under 20 rugby on the horizon next season."

Wales Under 18s versus Italy: Will Talbot Davies (Dragons / Solihull); Joe Goodchild (Dragons/ Coleg Gwent/ Garndiffaith), Dylan Moss (Ospreys/ Wellington College), Cameron Lewis (Blues/ Wattstown/ Cymoedd), Ryan Conbeer (Scarlets/ Sir Gar); Ben Jones (Blues/ Treharris/ Cymoedd); Connor Lewis (Blues/ Beddau/ Cymoedd), Jordan Liney (Ospreys/ Dunvant/ Hartbury), Harri Dobbs (Blues/ Cowbridge/ St Peters ), Will Griffiths (Ospreys/ Gowerton/ Gowerton), Max Williams (Dragons/ Newport High), Joe Thomas (Dragons / Penallta / Coleg Gwent), Will Jones (Ospreys/ Penclawdd/ Gower), Morgan Morris (Gloucester / Hartpury College)

Replacements: Rhys Carre (Blues/ Cardiff/ Cowbridge), Corrie Tarrant (Blues/ Pontypridd/ Cymoedd), Christian Coleman (Dragons / Garndiffaith/ Newport High), Tom Mably (Blues/ St Peter's, Cymoedd), James Ratti (Ospreys/Aberavon/Gower), James Botham (Blues/ Sedburgh School), Dane Blacker (Blues/Cymoedd / Pontypridd), Phil Jones (Ospreys/ Gowerton/ Gowerton), Corey Baldwin (Scarlets/ Llandovery College)