BEING an imposing 6ft 7ins helped Ed Scragg stand out to earn a shot at the Dragons, now the lock intends to stand tall with Wales at the World Rugby U20 Championship.

The 18-year-old from Westbury near Bath qualifies for Wales through his mother's side of the family from Neath.

After coming through the Welsh Exiles programme, Scragg was selected for an under-18s trial game at Cardiff Arms Park where he caught the eye of Dragons academy boss James Chapron.

Wales have traditionally produced a glut of forwards who are lock/blindside, but the Cardiff Met student's height and bulk makes a spell at 6 unlikely.

Despite being a giant, the youngster still has plenty of icons to look up to when looking over to the senior squads at regional level in Ystrad Mynach or Wales' Vale Resort training base.

"At Dragons you have players like Cory Hill to look up to and I watch the Wales seniors and Alun Wyn Jones stands out," he said.

"Growing up near Bath I used to watch players like Dave Attwood and we had season tickets to go and watch them growing up. They were inspirational figures."

Scragg played for Cardiff Met, where he is studying sports management, in the Championship last season and an upgrade to the Premiership could be possible in 2019/20.

But first he has the small matter of locking horns with the brightest prospects in the world with Wales in Argentina.

Scragg is one of the Dragons' eight-strong contingent for the World Rugby U20 Championship, something that he didn't believe was possible last September.

"My goals at the start of the season were different and Wales Under-20s wasn't a realistic goal for me back then, let alone the World Cup," said Scragg, who turns 19 next month.

"Getting involved with the Six Nations was beyond my expectations and the World Cup is even further beyond. I'm buzzing to get into it and I'm training hard at the camps."

Scragg was a try scorer in Wales' win against Italy in the Six Nations and featured in every game, starting three times and coming off the bench twice.

He will be to the fore as Gareth Williams' prospects lock horns with hosts Argentina, champions France and Fiji.

"The Argentina game first up is big and we expect them to be spirited and come at us," he said. "We've analysed them and are confident going into it.

"We have a tough group with France, Fiji and Argentina, three different styles of play, but we are hopeful ahead of the championships. I'm looking forward to being involved and away with the boys 24/7."

Wales face Argentina on Tuesday, June 4 (kick-off 5pm), France on Saturday, June 8 (kick-off 5pm) and Fiji on Wednesday, June 12 (kick-off 5pm).

Scragg is joined in the squad by Dragons wingers Deon Smith and Rio Dyer, centre Aneurin Owen, scrum-half Dafydd Buckland, prop Tom Devine, hooker Will Griffiths and flanker Lennon Greggains.