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Getting to know: Wales U20s openside Lucas de la Rua
By Liam Heagney
It was déjà vu for Wales on Saturday at the World Rugby U20 Championship, losing for the second successive year to New Zealand in their opening round match. The margin a year ago in Paarl was a point and it was seven last Saturday in Athlone.
Lucas de la Rua was the starting Wales No7 on both occasions and his year in between these age-grade World Cup clashes featured a Cardiff first-team debut away to Toulouse last December in the Investec Champions Cup.
RugbyPass caught up with him at the Wales team hotel in Cape Town and here is how he tackles the Getting to Know Q&A:
THE BASICS
Born: September 13, 2004;
Joined Wales age-grade: 2022, we played England in Taunton;
Club: Cardiff;
Position: Flanker;
Height: 6ft 1;
Weight: 100kg
Boots: Asics or Nike Tiempo;
Gumshield: We all have the instrumented one;
Headgear: No.
School: Corpus Christi, Cardiff.
RATE YOURSELF (out of 100)
Pace: 80;
Passing: 80;
Tackling: 90.
THE PAST
My favourite Wales player of all time is… Probably go Sam Warburton;
Favourite try I have ever scored is… For my club St Peters. It was my last game for them U18 against Penarth. They had beaten us early in the season and all our boys came back to play them in the last game, I scored a few. Not any try in particular but that was probably the most satisfying;
A rugby memory that makes me smile is… Playing for Wales U20s, my first game;
One piece of advice I would give to my younger self is… Not stress about things you can’t control. As long as you keep working hard, just keep going, next job mentality. You don’t have to stress about anything really;
My best subject in school was… Maths;
The first player who made me fall in love with rugby is… Bit of a weird one, probably Ma’a Nonu, I just remember watching him in the World Cup;
Growing up, my position was… I started off in centre. When I went to high school, my PE teacher saw me as a back row so I played there for school and centre for club and eventually just transitioned;
The coach who has most impacted my game is… I couldn’t name one. Probably my first coach was Sam Bean, he got me introduced to rugby. I had Chris James, my club coach. Matthew Lloyd, my high school coach. Martin Fowler, my college coach. They have all had different impacts and each time they have helped me to transition to the next level.
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THE PRESENT
My best attributes on the field are… Work rate;
One thing I’m doing to improve my education is… Not at the moment;
My favourite current Wales player is… Aaron Wainwright. Actually Jac Morgan;
My favourite YouTuber is… I don’t have one;
My hardest working teammate is… Morgan Morse;
My most skilful teammate is… They’ll be able to see this, will they? We’ll come back that that one;
My favourite music artist is… Drake.
THE FUTURE
A player who could go all the way is… Definitely a few. Probably would be Morgan Morse;
If I could play with anyone, I would like to play with… Pieter-Steph du Toit;
I will be happy with my career if I… Play for Wales and then once you achieve that you will probably be in for British and Irish Lions;
If I could play in any other country, I would play in… France;
One person I want to meet is… Tough question, like I haven’t thought of this stuff. I can’t think of anyone off the top of my head.
One trophy I would love to win is… Most people would say the World Cup.
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Latest Comments
We beat Wales. Oh wow.
Go to commentsAs has been the way all year, and for all England's play I can remember. I missed a lot of the better years under Eddie though.
Lets have a look at the LQB for the last few games... 41% under 3 sec compared to 56% last week, 47% in the game you felt England best in against NZ, and 56 against Ireland.
That was my impression as well. Dunno if that is a lack of good counterattack ball from the D, forward dominance (Post Contact Meters stats reversed yesterday compared to that fast Ireland game), or some Borthwick scheme, but I think that has been highlighted as Englands best point of difference this year with their attack, more particularly how they target using it in certain areas. So depending on how you look at it, not necessarily the individual players.
You seem to be falling into the same trap as NZs supporters when it comes to Damien McKenzie. That play you highlight Slade in wasn't one of those LQB situations from memory, that was all on the brilliance of Smith. Sure, Slade did his job in that situation, but Smith far exceeded his (though I understand it was a move Sleightholme was calling for). But yeah, it's not always going to be on a platter from your 10 and NZ have been missing that Slade line, in your example, more often than not too. When you go back to Furbank and Feyi-Waboso returns you'll have that threat again. Just need to generate that ball, wait for some of these next Gen forwards to come through etc, the props and injured 6 coming back to the bench. I don't think you can put Earl back to 7, unless he spends the next two years speeding up (which might be good for him because he's getting beat by speed like he's not used to not having his own speed to react anymore).
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