WALES Under-20s will play at Rodney Parade for the first time since 2008 when they host Ireland in the Six Nations.

The Welsh young guns will welcome the Irish to Newport on Friday, February 21 (kick-off 7.45pm) in round three of the tournament.

They start the campaign in France and then head to Italy before facing Ireland at Rodney Parade, with an away game at Scotland then followed by the finale against England at Cardiff Arms Park.

Wales Under-20s last played in Newport in 2008 when they beat France in the Six Nations and then returned for the semi-finals of the Junior World Championship in the summer when beaten by New Zealand.

That Welsh side featured Sam Warburton, Justin Tipuric, Rhys Webb, Dan Biggar, Jonathan Davies and Leigh Halfpenny while Ryan Crotty, Sam Whitelock, Aaron Smith and Zac Guildford were in the Baby Blacks’ team.

Now a new generation of prospects will take to the field at Rodney Parade to the delight of Wales Under-20s head coach Richard Whiffin.

“As a coaching group, we’ve been out in the regions and watching Super Rygbi Cymru – now the games have been confirmed things get a little bit more real,” he said.

“We expect England and Ireland to travel well so we expect it to be an exciting boisterous crowd, so we’ll be going all out to play an attractive brand of rugby to excite the crowd.

“There is a young Cardiff backline that has been playing week in week out in the SRC – those guys will be in or around the U20s squad so it will be great for the home fans to see some local players right on their own doorstep.

“There has obviously been a lot of Dragons boys playing in the SRC too so it will be great for the local Newport fans to get down to Rodney Parade and see their boys play in a red jersey.”

Wales start against France in Vannes on Saturday, February 1 then face Italy in Treviso on Friday, February 7.

The Rodney Parade fixture is followed by the trip to Scotland to play at Hive Stadium in the shadow of Murrayfield on Friday, March 7.

The Arms Park finale against an England side who won the World Rugby U20 Championship last summer is on Friday, March 14.

Early bird prices are available until the end of the year with tickets costing £10 for adults and £5 for under-18s.