Scotland U20 name team to face England

Scotland U20 name team to face England

​Scotland have made two changes to their starting XV to face England this Friday night in the second round of fixtures in the U20 Six Nations Championship at Myreside, Edinburgh (7.30pm kick off).

Following a spirited performance against Ireland last week at Irish Independent Park, where they came away with a bonus-point in a 38-26 defeat, there were plenty of positives to take back to Scotland, with the team gaining more metres than any side in the opening round of the 2020 tournament.

This weekend will be another tough test for Head Coach Sean Lineen’s players, as they aim to make it back-to-back wins on Scottish soil against their English counterparts.

Scotland’s captain for this campaign, Southern Knights’ Rory Darge, was involved in the squad the last time the two teams met, at the same venue, coming on in the 49th minute in a memorable 24-17 victory two years ago.

Scotland conceded just four penalties in their opening game of this year’s U20 Six Nations, fewer than any other side, and will need to perform to similar standards if they are to stop a confident England, who claimed an away win against France in round one.

Scotland U20 Head Coach Sean Lineen (Image credit: Inpho) 

Matthew Currie, who will play on his home ground, will again start at centre after becoming the only player to gain 100+ metres in the first round of this year’s U20 Six Nations.

Watsonians’ Roan Frostwick assisted two of Scotland’s four tries against Ireland last weekend and was the only player to set up more than one try in the opening round.

Glasgow Hawk’s Max Preistly comes in for Rufus McLean (concussion), while Harry Paterson of Heriot’s Rugby, a former Scotland U18 player, will come into the starting line-up. Jack Blain misses out after picking up an ankle injury in Cork.

Thomas Lambert is rewarded with a starting place as prop after coming off the bench and making a positive impact in Cork and he comes in place of Alex Maxwell.

Sale Sharks’ Ewan Ashman will be looking to continue his strong start to the Six Nations after scoring last weekend.

Ahead of the game, Lineen said: “We’ve got some good attackers in this team and they’re pretty skilful, but we’ve got to look after the ball a bit better than we did last weekend. England will be all about power, a lot of their individuals play Premiership rugby, they’re all very good players.

“We’ve got to make sure we strike the right balance in attack and defence, we’ve come away having played pretty well in Ireland and we’ll look to take those positives into Friday night.

“We want to make it as tough as possible, you can’t stand off them and we’ve got to make it very difficult, but first and foremost we need every man wearing that thistle to front up to the challenge they’ll face.

“We’re expecting a big crowd at Myreside and we’ll make sure we use them as our sixteenth man and we’re ready to give it our best shot.”

Scotland U20 match against England at Myreside is a popular fixture with the Calcutta Cup match the next day at BT Murrayfield, so secure your tickets now and don’t miss out on the action. Buy Tickets.

If you can’t make it along to Myreside, you can watch the match live on Scottish Rugby TV on scottishrugby.org.

There are frequent bus links to Myreside Stadium from around Edinburgh, it’s only a 25 minute bus journey from the city centre, find the routes and times on Lothian Buses website There will be no public parking, therefore public transport is encouraged. We would encourage spectators to be mindful of the surrounding residents and local parking restrictions.

(Image credit: Inpho) 

Scotland U20 team to face England at Myreside, Edinburgh on Friday night (7.30pm)

15. Ollie Smith (Ayrshire Bulls) *

14. Harry Paterson (Heriot’s Rugby) *
13. Matthew Currie (Watsonians Rugby) *
12. Robbie McCallum (Boroughmuir Bears) *
11. Jacob Henry (Southern Knights) *

10. Nathan Chamberlain (Hartpury College/Bristol Bears)
9. Roan Frostwick (Watsonians Rugby) *

1. Thomas Lambert (Sydney University)
2. Ewan Ashman (Sale Sharks)
3. . Mak Wilson (Southern Knights)
4. Kieran Watt (Watsonians Rugby)
5. Cameron Henderson (Stirling County) *
6. Jack Hill (Durham University)
8. Rory Darge (Southern Knights) * ©
7. Connor Boyle (Watsonians Rugby) *

Replacements
16. Rory Jackson (Watsonians Rugby) *
17. George Breese (Stirling County) *
18. Alex Maxwell (Stourbridge)
19. Jamie Campbell (Biggar) *
20. Gregor Brown (Boroughmuir Bears) *
21. Kyle McGhie (Boroughmuir Bears)
22. Cameron Scott (Boroughmuir Bears) *
23. Max Preistly (Glasgow Hawks)


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