SCOTLAND U21 TEAM TO PLAY ITALY

Scotland Under 21 coach Iain Paxton has made three changes to the team that narrowly lost to Australia for tomorrow’s World Championship match against Italy.

In the backs, Cameron Johnston comes in at right wing for Ben Addison while Iain Kennedy takes over at inside centre from Garry Law who has a slight ankle strain and is being rested as a precaution. The only change in the forwards sees Kyle Traynor come off the bench to replace Ryan Grant.

The Scots agonisingly missed out on an historical first win at U21 level against Australia in their opening game last Friday. They were leading throughout the match until a try in the 85th minute secured victory for the Australians 18-14.

Italy lost their first World Championship game to New Zealand 75-16 but they ran Scotland close in the last encounter between the sides in this year’s Six Nations which ended 21-14 in the Scots’ favour.

Head coach Iain Paxton said: “We’ve got over Friday night’s disappointment and now the emphasis is on playing for the full 80 minutes. We played well, but we have to keep applying pressure and scoring points throughout.

“We know Italy from the Six Nations and that they’ll be tough but we think we’ve picked a squad that can do it. We watched their game against New Zealand and they put in a solid performance despite losing, so we’re not taking them for granted.”


Scotland U21 team to play Italy in the IRB U21 World Championship
at the Stade Darragon in Vichy, France on Tuesday 13 June (kick-off 5pm local time, 4pm BST)

15 James King (Border Reivers and Melrose)

14 Cameron Johnston (Newcastle Falcons) *
13 Ben Cairns (Edinburgh Gunners and Currie) *
12 Iain Kennedy (Glasgow Warriors and Glasgow Hawks)
11 Lee Kibble (Border Reivers and Biggar)

10 David Blair (Sale Sharks) (CAPTAIN)
9 Greig Laidlaw (Jed-Forest)

1 Kyle Traynor (Edinburgh Gunners and Boroughmuir) **
2 Sean Crombie (Aberdeen GSFP) **
3 David Young (Leicester Tigers)
4 James Eddie (Glasgow Warriors and Ayr)
5 Ian Nimmo (Leicester Tigers)
6 Alan MacDonald (Edinburgh Gunners) *
8 John Barclay (Glasgow Warriors) *
7 Ross Rennie (Edinburgh Gunners and Stewart’s Melville FP) **

Substitutes:

16 Ryan Grant (The Army)
17 Gregor Wood (Watsonians)
18 Allan Kelly (Hillhead/Jordanhill) **
19 Scott Newlands (Heriot’s) **
20 Murray Bringhurst (Watsonians) **
21 Chris Dunlop (Durham University)
22 Ben Addison (Stirling County) **

* indicates member of Scottish Institute of Sport
** indicates member of an area Institute of Sport


Scotland’s fixtures and results:
Friday 9 June Australia 18-14 Scotland
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 12-Jun-2006, 11:04 by Hugh Barrow.