SCOTS ACHIEVE HIGHEST EVER FINISH IN IRB u21 WC
Prop Moray Low scored Scotland's try today
Scotland have achieved their highest ever finish in an IRB Under 21 World Championship as they earned sixth position in the tournament in Mendoza, Argentina this afternoon following a 39-7 defeat at the hands of the host nation.

The highest Scotland have finished prior to this competition was seventh when the world championship was held in Oxford, England in 2003. Last year when the Scots hosted the tournament in Edinburgh, Glasgow and the Borders the side managed only the tenth spot in the final standings.

This year, Scotland were pipped by Australia in the opening pool match, going down 28-22 in a close encounter that could easily have gone Scotland’s way. Wales took advantage of the Scots’ missed opportunities in the second match, beating them 24-8.

The two defeats left Scotland in desperate need of a victory but they didn’t have long to wait as five days later they bounced back to demolish Canada 52-20 with eight tries including a brace each for scrum-half Alasdhair McFarlane and centre Nic De Luca.

That result boosted the Scots to contend for the fifth-eighth position but they found themselves drawn against Celtic cousins Wales once more. Along with the defeat the previous week, Scotland had already been soundly beaten 31-7 by the Welsh during the shadow Six Nations in March this year.

That spurred the side on and with everything falling into place Scotland ran out 43-25 winners in the semi-final of the fifth-eighth place play-off. That result set up an encounter with hosts Argentina to determine fifth and sixth position. It also gave Scotland the honour of finishing the highest placed side from the home nations.

With today’s defeat Scotland can take pride in their overall finishing position but the wounds inflicted with the loss may have to heal first as coach Iain Paxton explained. He said: “We’ll take sixth spot but the frustration with our performance today is still high.

“There are a lot of positives to take from the whole competition. We competed against Australia in the first game and they have gone on to make the final. We then bounced back from two losses to beat Wales in the semis.

“We have a large number of players back with us next year so we now have something very solid to build on as we have learned a lot from this world championship,” he added.

Argentina dominated the first half of today’s game as Scotland were unable to keep possession with uncharacteristic unforced errors. The hosts notched a 20-0 lead at half time but Aberdeen GSFP prop Moray Low crashed over from a lineout 23 minutes after the turnaround to give Scotland their only score. Centre Garry Law converted the try.

Captain Neil Cochrane was shown the yellow card twelve minutes from the end of the match for a “questionable” infringement and Argentina took victory 39-7.

Paxton said: “It wasn’t great; we had a bad first half. There were too many errors by us but we can’t take anything away from Argentina who are a quality side. We lost our way a wee bit and didn’t make all the right decisions but the atmosphere was good in the ground with around 3500 spectators – although unfortunately not many Scots!”

Paxton’s young charges leave for Scotland tomorrow, arriving back in Edinburgh early on Monday morning.

South Africa face Australia in the final of the IRB Under 21 World Championship later today as their match kicks off at 5.40pm local time. Mendoza is four hours behind BST.

For further information on the competition visit www.irbu21.com

SCOTLAND: Alan Nash (Watsonians & East of Scotland Institute of Sport); Ben Addison (Stirling County & Central Scotland Institute of Sport), Ben Cairns (Currie & East of Scotland Institute of Sport), Garry Law (Hawick & East of Scotland Institute of Sport), Nic De Luca (Heriot's & East of Scotland Institute of Sport); Michael Adamson (Glasgow Hawks), Alasdhair McFarlane (GHA); 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, GHA & West of Scotland Institute of Sport), Neil Cochrane (Watsonians & East of Scotland Institute of Sport) CAPTAIN
Substitutes: (all used) Steven 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), Scott Wight (Melrose), Iain Kennedy (GHA & West of Scotland Institute of Sport)

This article was posted on 25-Jun-2005, 17:07 by Hugh Barrow.