Scotland Under 21s suffered an agonising defeat late in injury time in their opening match of the World Championship in France.

The Scots were up 14-13 against Australia at the Stade Darragon in Vichy but were beaten in the last move of the game when a late try in the 85th minute sealed victory for the Australians 18-14.

Scotland were leading 14-0 at half time, thanks to a try from Ross Rennie and three penalties from captain David Blair. But Australia came back early in the second half with a penalty which they followed with two tries before crossing the line one more time to sneak victory.

Scotland U21 team manager John Jeffrey summed up the performance. He said:
“The team played outstandingly to a man. Even the Australians admitted how lucky they’d been.

“It was a gutsy performance and we were just seconds away from an historic victory as we’ve never beaten Australia at this level. But in the end, we fell short. Sport can be cruel at times and our boys ran them so close tonight, its heart wrenching.”

Scotland’s next match in the World Championship is against Italy on Tuesday 13 June.


Scotland U21 team v Australia:
James King, Ben Addison, Ben Cairns, Garry Law (Iain Kennedy), Lee Kibble, David Blair (captain), Greig Laidlaw, Ryan Grant (Kyle Traynor), Sean Crombie, David Young, James Eddie, Iain Nimmo (Scott Newlands), Alan MacDonald, John Barclay, Ross Rennie.


Scotland’s fixtures:
Tuesday 13 June Italy v Scotland Vichy, kick off 5pm
Saturday 17 June England v Scotland Riom, kick off 6pm
Wed 21 June semi-final play-offs tbc
Sunday 25 June finals for overall places tbc

This article was posted on 9-Jun-2006, 22:31 by Hugh Barrow.