WORLD RUGBY U20 CHAMPIONSHIP 2016
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POOL B: AUSTRALIA 10-15 SCOTLAND Scotland had been quietly confident of upsetting the more fancied Australia in their opening match and while the red card for centre Campbell Magnay meant they played with a man advantage for the majority of the second half they were worthy winners against an out-of-sorts opponent. The match remained scoreless through the first quarter despite Magnay paying an early visit to the sin-bin, before Adam Hastings, the son of former Scotland and Lions legend Gavin, kicked a 21st-minute penalty. That lead was only short-lived though as Australian pressure finally told when second-row Isack Rodda crashed through the defence for the opening try.
Australia went in 7-3 at half-time but they were on the back foot after only five minutes of the second half when Magnay received a second yellow for a dangerous tackle and it took Scotland just two minutes to take the lead, test-capped prop ZanderFagersonburrowing over for his side’s first try. Despite being a man down Australia continued to pile on the pressure and a Mack Mason penalty regained the lead with 25 minutes to go at AJ Bell Stadium. Scotland, though, had other ideas and winger
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Darcy Graham fielded a kick on halfway and scythed through the defence, having the pace to run in the try despite a desperate tap tackle attempt of Australia captain James Tuttle. There was still time for Australia to snatch an unlikely victory and, after opting for repeated scrums deep in Scotland’s territory, it nearly paid off as winger Simon Kennewell thought he had scored, only for the TMO to correctly rule his foot had touched the line. Scotland survived and were able to celebrate a famous victory that boosts their hopes of bettering their best ever finish of eighth recorded last year. Scotland Try-scorer Fagerson said: “It’s a great bunch of guys, all looking for the same things and to achieve the same goals and we’re on the same page so that last five minutes was a testament to that. Today we managed to pull it off so we’re chuffed. It was never in doubt so we’re happy. We felt like we did well in the scrums, obviously sometimes we got it wrong but the boys done good and that last scrum won us the game and when it counted we got stuck in and got it done.” Australia coach Adrian Thompson: “We are very disappointed with the performance we put out today and at times we were our own worst enemy. Our handling errors were not up to the standard we have set for ourselves in 2016 and we started the match too slowly. Going a man down against a good team like Scotland was always going to hamper our performance, however credit to Scotland who defended well against us. We now have to pick ourselves up and get ready for Italy.” POOL B: ENGLAND 44-0 SCOTLAND Hosts England had been outclassed by Scotland in the Six Nations in February, but it was a role reversal at the Manchester City Academy Stadium as to the delight of the home contingent in the crowd they ran in five tries for a convincing victory. Scotland simply had no answer to the England pack’s power in the first half, conceding three penalties in
seven minutes in the first quarter with fly-half Harry Mallinder kicking two of them. The Northampton Saint also added the conversion when captain Jack Walker dropped on the ball as the England driving maul splintered the Scottish defence with easy in the 22nd minute. That would prove to be the final score of the first half, although Scotland could have been on the scoreboard had Blair Kinghorn, who switched to fly-half to cover Adam Hastings after he took a knock in the win over Australia, not missed two penalties in the first eight minutes.
The second half burst into life with two tries in as many minutes for England. First, in the 54th minute, Darren Atkins raced down the wing and flanker Will Evans was able to slide over, the TMO ruling he had just avoided the touchline. Then Sam Aspland-Robinson scythed through the defence and sent John Williams over for England’s third try. The bonus point try came courtesy of replacement hooker Jack Singleton after Scotland were unable to cope with another driving maul with four minutes to go and there was still time for fellow replacement Max Malins to charge through a tiring defence to put the gloss on the win. England coach Martin Haag: “We are happy enough, but there are some things to work on. The number of times we went into the opposition 22 and for ill-disci-
pline, or whatever reason, didn’t convert. However we are really pleased to get the win and the way we finished the game I thought was superb, attacking from our own line I thought was excellent. We just need a bit more precision at times but that’s something we can work on.” POOL B: SCOTLAND 29-17 ITALY Scotland broke new ground by winning two pool matches for the first time after beating Italy in a stop-start encounter at the Manchester City Academy Stadium. In the end it was a couple of costly mistakes from the Italians that decided the game in Scotland’s favour, Robbie Nairn and then Alastair Miller, with the bonus-point try, ruthlessly capitalising on dropped catches under the high ball. Prop Murray McCallum and full-back Blair Kinghorn, rightly named man-of-the-match, were Scotland’s other try scorers while number eight Giovanni Licata, prop Daniele Rimpelli and winger Pierre Bruno crossed for the Azzurrini, who finished the game strongly. It took a show-and-go from the impressive Adam Hastings, son of Scotland and Lions legend Gavin, to spark an otherwise dull game into life. After a series of rucks the ball was spread wide to prop McCallum, who burrowed over from close range.
Scotland thought they’d scored another when winger Ben Robbins followed up his own kick to touch down but the TMO ruled he had knocked on before grounding the ball. Italy roared back and put Scotland under intense pressure, Licata driving over from a lineout to score Italy’s 50th try in U20 Championship history. With Leonardo Mantelli’s conversion Italy led 7-5, and they held on to that advantage until half-time. A penalty from Hastings and then two tries in the space of four minutes saw the momentum shift Scotland’s way. Nairn was gift-wrapped a try when a clearance kick by Matt McPhillips from behind his own goal-line was fumbled by Luca Sperandio on halfway and the ball dropped straight into the arms of Scotland’s winger who gratefully accepted the opportunity and sped downfield unopposed. The outstanding Kinghorn was next to cross, but Italy kept their hopes alive when Rimpelli chalked up another try for the ‘front row union’. Hastings’ missed penalty was then followed by Miller’s try, before Italy were rewarded for a strong finish with a try at the death for Bruno, after an earlier effort in the same corner by Marco Zanon had been ruled out for a foot in touch. Scotland captain Scott Cummings: “We knew we were going to have to put in a good performance to get a result. At times we played very well and at others there were things we could improve on but I still think that was a good performance from the boys. I think the game against England was a bit of a wake-up call after our win against Australia because it showed that if we don’t play at our very best every time we’re not going to get the right result. Our goal was to win two of our pool games so we are happy to achieve that but I think there is still a lot more to come from us.”
SEVENTH PLACE PLAY-OFF: SCOTLAND 19-42 WALES Wales proved too strong for Scotland as they won 4219 to finish seventh at the World Rugby U20 Championship. It is their joint worst finish at the Championship, while Scotland equalled their best having also finished eighth 12 months ago. The Scots flew out of the blocks but could not make their early possession count, and were punished after 11 minutes by Jarred Rosser, a sign of things to come as Wales showed great potency in attack. Dillon Lewis added their second and, despite Adam Hastings impressing as Scotland hit back, Wales scored the next three tries, including one of the tries of the tournament through Jarrod Evans and two immediately after half-time in as many minutes, meaning Scotland were never really in the match. Hooker Lewis Anderson crashed over the line after a sustained period of attack for Scotland to reduce the deficit to 23 giving them a glimmer of hope but it was not to be despite a second of the half from Alex Craig following another break from the impressive Hastings. Joe Gage added Wales’ sixth to finish the tournament on a high.
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Scotland U’20’s Lewis ANDERSON Scott BURNSIDE Scott CUMMINGS Andrew DAVIDSON Daniel ELKINGTON Alexander FAGERSON Hugh FRASER Thomas GALBRAITH Darcy GRAHAM Adam HASTINGS Callum HUNTER-HILL Rory HUTCHINSON Jake KERR Blair KINGHORN Murray MCCALLUM Matt MCPHILLIPS Alastair MILLER Robbie Peter NAIRN James Thomas RITCHIE Ben ROBBINS Callum SHELDON Charlie SHIEL Matt SMITH George TAYLOR George THORNTON Lewis WYNNE Cameron GRAY Alexander Iain CRAIG Lewis Kenneth BERG Reuben Philip Wylie NORVILLE Stephen Richard AINSLIE Ruairi HOWARTH Fraser John RENWICK Hamish Kenneth George BAIN Adam Scott NICOL Daniel Murray WINNING
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