The Scotland Under 21 squad flies to France this weekend ahead of the IRB Under 21 World Championship. The annual tournament takes place in Vichy between Friday 9 June and Sunday 25 June.

Scotland's sixth place in last year’s championship in Argentina was their best ever finish and put them ahead of the other home unions in the final standings; England finished seventh, Wales eighth, while Ireland were ninth.

The aim this year for the Scotland Under 21s’ coach Iain Paxton is to do as well, if not better. He said: “Last year was a real achievement given we were seeded tenth going into the competition, so finishing sixth was testament to the hard work the guys put in.

“Our target is to at least maintain that position but it’ll be hard as we’re competing against nations with a bigger player base than we have.

“It’s been difficult getting players together over the last month due to their pro-team commitments but training on Monday went well and we’ll put the finishing touches to our preparations in France next week.”

As in the tournament in 2005, Scotland’s first pool match is against Australia on Friday 9 June (kick-off 7pm local time). In last year’s game in Mendoza, they came close to upsetting the favoured side losing by just six points, 22-28.

Looking back on that tie, Paxton said: “We finished very strongly, playing better as the game went on and the players built up their self-belief. The Australians this year have twelve Super 14 players in their squad so it’s a fantastic opportunity for our boys to play against them and show they’re every bit as good.”

They then face Italy on Tuesday 13 May in Vichy (kick-off 5pm local time). They last met the Italians in the final round of the Six Nations, when a late try from Scotland sealed the match 21-14 for their second away win of the tournament. The victory over Ireland by 24-21 the week earlier was the first ever for the under 21s on Irish soil.

Scotland’s third pool match is against England on Saturday 17 June (kick-off 6pm local time). England will provide a bigger threat than their seventh place seeding might suggest. They won the Grand Slam in this season’s shadow Six Nations. In that competition, the Scots fell 22-49 to the auld enemy after earlier losing their earlier games against France and Wales

Captain David Blair wants to turn that deficit around during the World Championship, especially since a hamstring injury cut short his involvement in last year’s tournament in Mendoza.

He said: “I was also injured in the Under 19 World Championship so I’m hoping it’s third time lucky for me and I’ll play to the end this year.

“The championship is the highlight of the year for everyone and a chance to play for your country so we’re just raring to go. Last year, we perhaps had too much respect for Australia going into the opening tie but we then showed we could compete against the best and this time we’ll be more confident from the start.”

Flanker Alan MacDonald, who also played in 2005, agrees:

“Everyone is really looking forward to France. It was great to see how we pitched ourselves against guys in the same age group last year and we found out they were only human.

“We’re aiming to go further this time and beat Australia first up and progress from there.”

The Scotland U21s fly to Vichy on Saturday 3 June.



Friday 9 June Australia v Scotland Vichy, kick-off 19.00 (local time)
Tuesday 13 June Italy v Scotland Vichy, kick off 17.00
Saturday 17 June England v Scotland Riom, kick off 18.00
Wed 21 June semi-final play-offs tbc
Sunday 25 June finals for overall places tbc


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This article was posted on 1-Jun-2006, 18:34 by Hugh Barrow.