Scotland Under-18s were given a physically testing game against the national Under-19 side at Inverleith yesterday in preparation for what will be hard matches against Wales, Italy and England in next month’s international series in Cardiff.
In the end the U19s were able to use their greater physical advantage to eke out a win but not without huge resistance from the younger Scotland side, whose ferocity in the tackle nullified the 19s' attacking moves.
“It was good for our guys, particularly those who didn’t play against England earlier this month, to experience greater physicality. We had to do a lot of defending but it’s better that these guys get that experience now than when we go down to Wales. It was a really worthwhile exercise from that point of view.” said Ally Donaldson, the Scotland U18 head coach.
“But I’m disappointed we didn’t win. We had to defend for long periods and we did that pretty well. We also learnt a bit more about other players. There were quite a few who played against England who, for a variety of reasons didn’t play today. We’ll take 26 to Wales so we have to make some difficult selections.” added Donaldson.
Outstanding for the U18s were flanker Connor Boyle and inside centre Grant Hughes and there were eye-catching performances from back rows Tyler Thomas and Rory Darge, both eligible for the U17s, and second row Cammy Henderson.
With places for Scotland’s squad to play in the World U20 Championship still available, the U18s did well to hold out against the U19s forward-orientated attacks and did even better to score with a try by Henderson and the conversion by stand-off Mike Davidson for a 7-0 interval lead.
Then in the second half the greater physicality of the U19s told despite brave and committed tackling by the U18s to give the older side tries by No,8 Dan Marek, prop James Wilson and scrum half Kareem Baretto with conversions from Will Hunt and Baretto to finish 19-7 winners.
Scorers. Scotland U18. Try: Henderson Con: Davidson
Scotland U19. Tries: Darek, Wilson, Baretto. Cons: Hunt, Baretto
Scotland U18. J McCaig (Strathallan School); J Seale (Brighton College/Harlequins), C Symes (Stewart’s Melville College), G Hughes (Dollar Academy), J Lineen (Stewart’s Melville College); M Davidson (Merchiston Castle School), R McLean (Melrose/Merchiston Castle School); W Owen (Melrose), F Scott (Jed Thistle), M Walker (Strathallan School), C Henderson (Strathallan School), M Sykes (St Joseph’s Ipswich/Northampton Saints), T Thomas (Merchiston Castle School), C Boyle (Stewart’s Melville College), R Darge (North Berwick High School) Subs J Eagers (Merchiston Castle School), A McLean (Stirling County), R Thompson (Stewart’s Melville College), J McCready (Glasgow Academy), J Wilson (George Watson’s College), A Fraser (High School of Dundee), R Bundy (Stirling County), J Hutchison (Sedburgh/Newcastle Falcons)
Scotland U19. P Anderson (Melrose); B Enyon (Glasgow Hawks), R Yourston (Jed Forest), W Hunt (Preston Grasshoppers), J Paterson (Edinburgh Academicals); K Brunton (Hawick), K Baretto (Glenalmond College); S Gunn (Edinburgh Academicals), B Clements (Sedbergh), C Eastwood (Watsonians), D Roger (Edinburgh Academicals), J Hodgson (Stewart’s Melville), R Sweeney (Glasgow Academicals), A Hinton (Merchiston Castle), D Marek (Currie) Subs J Samuel (Cardiff Met University), F Hobbis (Stewart’s Melville), F Richardson (Edinburgh Academicals), J Ross (Northumbria University), G Bordill (Northumbria University), O Cattell (Bath Academy), J McLean (Glasgow Academy), H Warr (Ayr), J Hennessey (KCS Wimbledon/Harlequins), K Rowe (Falkirk), F Fitzpatrick (Dollar Academy)
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here