Scotland bounced back from two defeats in the opening matches of the IRB Under 21 World Championship in Mendoza, Argentina to demolish Canada 52-20 and with eight tries to three in the crunch match.

The result, coupled with Ireland\'s defeat by South Africa, means that Scotland will now be in the mix for the battle for fifth to eighth place, a significant improvement on last year when they could only finish tenth.

Prior to last night\'s game Scotland were edged out 28-22 by Australia in the opening pool match before losing 24-8 to Wales on Monday. Coach Iain Paxton was upbeat following last night’s match as Wales now lie in wait again in Scotland\'s next match on Tuesday.

Scotland began the Canada encounter at blistering speed with a try from scrum-half and captain Alasdhair McFarlane within two minutes. However, the Scots went to sleep and let Canada come back with a try of their own.

Scotland then found themselves trailing as Canada slotted a penalty that took them 8-5 up but that was a temporary setback. The momentum began to build for Paxton’s side and the tries rained down. Following McFarlane’s early score, number 8 John Beattie was next to cross with winger Ben Addison and hooker Ross Ford following shortly after.

McFarlane bagged a second try for himself just before half time and added to three conversions from stand-off Michael Adamson, Scotland went into the break 31-15 up. Canada had added to their try and penalty with a further converted score.

The second half saw winger Nic De Luca cross to increase Scotland’s lead before centre Ben Cairns shot through the Canadian defence for a try of his own. In the final ten minutes, De Luca touched down for a second score. Adamson converted all three scores and with Canada adding their third try, the game ended 52-20.

Centre Garry Law and lock Ian Nimmo were both yellow carded in the dying minutes but that did not take the sheen off a much improved Scotland performance in this championship.

Paxton said: “We’re happy to take the five points (four for a win plus a try scoring bonus) but we’ll have to wait to see who we face in the next round. Realistically we should be competing in the 5th-8th group but results could go against us later in the day.

\"The players have responded well to the two defeats. All the way through I couldn’t fault them for their commitment and effort in the matches and in training so we are pleased to get this result. We look forward to seeing who we’ll face next week,” he added.

Scotland’s fourth match of the IRB Under 21 World Championship will be played against their Welsh counterparts at Mendoza RFC on Tuesday 21 June, kick-off 7.30pm BST.

SCOTLAND: Alan Nash (Watsonians & East of Scotland Institute of Sport); Ben Addison (Stirling County & Central Scotland Institute of Sport), Ben Cairns (Currie & Scottish Institute of Sport), Garry Law (Hawick & East of Scotland Institute of Sport), Nic De Luca (Heriot\'s & Scottish Institute of Sport), Michael Adamson (Glasgow Hawks), Alasdhair McFarlane (GHA) CAPTAIN; Stuart Fenwick (Ayr), Ross Ford (The Borders & Scottish Institute of Sport), Moray Low (Aberdeen GSFP), Sean Tomes (Newcastle Falcons), Ian Nimmo (Heriot\'s & Tayside and Fife Institute of Sport), Colin White (Stirling County & Central Scotland Institute of Sport), John Beattie (Glasgow Rugby & West of Scotland Institute of Sport), Alan MacDonald (Heriot\'s & East of Scotland Institute of Sport)

Substitutes: Stevie Lawrie (Watsonians & East of Scotland Institute of Sport), Stuart Corsar (Aberdeen GSFP & Grampian Institute of Sport), James Eddie (Glasgow Rugby, GHA & West of Scotland Institute of Sport), Scott Forrest (Glasgow Hawks & West of Scotland Institute of Sport), Greig Laidlaw (Jed-Forest), Iain Kennedy (GHA & West of Scotland Institute of Sport), Douglas Flockhart (Currie)

This article was posted on 18-Jun-2005, 17:43 by Hugh Barrow.