Scotland under-20 coach Rob Moffat selected his squad of 26 players recently for the IRB Junior World Championship in Japan. Moffat gave his players every opportunity to stake a claim for a place in the final cut, making his selection just in time for the IRB deadline following a full contact XV-a-side head-to-head amongst his players at Lasswade.

Moffat said: “It was a great opportunity for the players to play another match of high intensity rugby which helps the development of our game and was part of our programme for the World Cup. If we have got that right then this should be an even stronger squad than that of the 6 Nations.

“The World Cup is a fantastic environment to be in. Some of these players will go on to play professional rugby and this is the time for them to stand up and make that known. It’s up to them to make their mark on that stage and if these boys keep improving and developing then we can definitely look forward to the World Cup.”

Seven new faces join the squad following the side’s most successful 6 Nations in history including Exiles Ryan Wilson and James Knight. Ryan played for Scotland at U19 level and was offered a National Academy contract last season before injuring a shoulder. Since then he has been working hard to regain fitness and has been able to find form playing at his new club, London Scottish. James, was unlucky not to be selected originally for the 6 Nations, but has developed significantly this season either playing for his club Bedford or on loan at Cambridge.

This brings the number of Exiles in the party back up to 6, after James Taylor and Adam Mackenzie, who were part of the successful 6 Nations team had been put into the backup squad. This was an unfortunate outcome for both players as they had contributed to the performances of the squad in the recent internationals. Aarron Hall part of the U19 Scotland Squad and a Newcastle Falcon has also been named in the back up squad.

Jamie Harrop (Leicester Tigers) and Andrew Fraser (Leeds Carnegie) also took part in the game at Lasswade. Although both showed up well in a game of this magnitude, both were not included in the final selection. With Mark Anderson (Harrogate) on the sidelines of the game injured and Cameron Brown (Loughborough University) who was part of the original 6 Nations extended squad in January, adding to those directly involved in the game, a total of twelve Exiles have been involved in the Scotland 20s programme this season – a remarkable achievement by the players and a real step forward for the programme.

Backs
Peter Jericevich (Glasgow Hawks) *, Henry Pyrgos (Loughborough University), Robbie McGowan (Stirling County), Andrew White (Glasgow Hawks) **, Alex Dunbar (Selkirk) **, Robbie Johnston (Leeds University and Leeds Carnegie), James Knight (Bedford), Ashleah McCulloch (Aberdeen Grammar) **, Steven Aitken (Aberdeen Grammar) **, Grant Anderson (Ayr) *, Peter Horne (Glasgow Warriors), Paul Loudon (Durham University and Edinburgh Accies)

Forwards
Fraser Brown CAPTAIN (Watsonians)*, Finlay Gillies (Heriot’s) **, Gavin Cameron (Stirling County) **, David Morton (Bridgwater and Albion), Douglas Orr (Haddington) **, Grant Shiells (Kelso), Nick Campbell (Glasgow Hawks) **, Grant Gilchrist (Stirling County) *, Richard Gray (Glasgow Warriors), Robert Harley (West of Scotland) **, Struan Dewar (Heriot’s) **, Chris Fusaro (Heriot’s) *, Stuart McInally* (Watsonians), Ryan Wilson (London Scottish)

Bold – Exiles

** denotes national academy