Osprey Sam Davies is at fly-half as Wales Under-20 take on their Irish counterparts at Eirias Park, Colwyn Bay on Friday night.
Rhys Patchell is likely to be on LV Cup duty for Cardiff Blues against London Irish at the Arms Park on Friday.
That gives Davies his chance in the U20 number 10 jersey.
Dion Jones returns from the Scarlets to start at full-back in front of his home crowd.
Coach Danny Wilson said: “This is the starting point of our journey towards the Junior World Championship, but we are very keen to start well on Friday.
“Some of our squad are playing for their Regions this weekend, while others may be rested if they’ve played a lot of rugby recently or are carrying knocks.”
Wales face a new look Ireland team, with coach Mike Ruddock including just two players from last year’s squad in his starting XV - full back Ulster and Belfast Harlequins’ Stuart Olding and scrum half Luke McGrath who will also captain the side.
Former Wales national coach Ruddock said: “We’re starting from a lower base I guess than we have the last couple of seasons.
“We had a good season last year. We won four out of five in the Six Nations . . . it’ll be going some guns to match that record for this team, particularly with some of the injuries we’ve had.
“But I still think we’ll be very competitive. The panel we’ve got have prepared well, they’ve been at some good camps, we’ve had a couple of warm-up games so we’re in a good place.
“The work is done and we’re feeling reasonably optimistic.”
Comments