JASON Strange has been appointed as head coach of Wales Under-20s and intends to instil the same values that brought great success at Ebbw Vale, writes Chris Kirwan.

The former fly-half left the Steelmen at the end of last season following five highly-successful seasons at Eugene Cross Park.

He helped Ebbw recover from relegation to win four titles on the spin in Division One East and then the SSE Swalec Championship before being named as coach of the year after their excellent return to the Principality Premiership in which they were runners-up to Pontypridd.

Strange had been combining his role with a part-time skills coach job with the WRU since January and he was part of the management team at last summer's World Rugby U20 Championship.

He has now been handed the reins following the retirement of Allan Lewis, heading a coaching team of team manager Mark Taylor and coaches Geraint Lewis, Richard Hodges and Chris Horsman.

Strange said: "I am really honoured to be given the job but with this privilege comes great responsibility and I intend to work extremely hard.

"It's a pretty similar project to Ebbw Vale and what I've done in the past – I am a big believer that if you get the environment right then players flourish and the rewards come with that."

Wales finished sixth at the World U20 Championship and Strange is confident that they will reap the rewards of that experience in next year's tournament in Manchester.

"We decided to take a young group and were mindful that we would have plenty of them back this season," he said.

"A lot of them are already playing regional rugby and will be exposed to a good level of rugby in the British and Irish Cup so hopefully we will reap the benefits of that come the Six Nations."

Geraint Lewis continues as Wales Under-18s head coach with Dragons academy boss James Chapron his defence coach and Horsman and Cardiff Met's Danny Milton looking after the scrum and attack respectively.

The Wales Sevens and Wales Women positions are unchanged with Gareth Williams heading the former and Rhys Edwards in charge of the latter, both assisted by Richie Pugh.