ITALIAN JOB CONFIRMED FOR TOURNAMENT WARM UP
Friday, 10 April 2009
Scotland under-18 will play Viadana under-20 tomorrow (Saturday kick-off 2pm local time, 1pm BST) in preparation for the 5 Nations festival in Italy next week.
The fixture was organised following France’s withdrawal from the competition which left Scotland with just two 5 Nations fixtures instead of three, and meant that the players would be in Italy for six days without competitive action.

Scotland under-18 head coach, Grant McKelvey, said: “It would be inappropriate for the team to fly out on Thursday and not play until Wednesday so we arranged this fixture through our liaison officer.
“They will be very similar to the sides we will face in the 5 Nations, particularly in terms of their physicality.”
The Viadana fixture will be followed by two tough encounters against home nation opposition – England on Wednesday 15 April (7.30pm local time, 6.30pm BST) and Wales on Saturday 18 April (kick-off 4pm local time, 3pm BST).
McKelvey added: “For the last eight weeks we have been trying to prepare the team for the intensity of international rugby and now we have to show the improvements we’ve made in the next three games.
“Our match analysis provides an accurate and objective insight into certain aspects of the players’ performance and gives a very accurate appraisal of when and what improvements have to be made.
“We have to improve the stability of our set piece, particularly our scrum, which greatly improved over the course of our preparation fixtures, holding up best against Leicester Tigers under-19 Academy.
“Other improvements I’d like to see would be in our ball carrying into and through contact, our speed and accuracy in the contact area and, in defence, we need to improve our tackle percentage and tackle technique.
“This tour is all about developing the players. It’s about measuring their improvements week-on-week and motivating the players to challenge themselves.”
The Scotland under-18 fixture against Viadana under-20 will take place at the Corte Lavadera, Viadana, Italy on Saturday 11 April (kick-off 2pm local time, 1pm BST) in preparation for the 5 Nations fixtures against England under-18 and Wales under-18 on Wednesday 15 April and Saturday 18 April respectively.
Scotland under-18 v Viadana under-20, Corte Lavadera, Viadana, Italy, Saturday 11 April (kick-off 2pm local time, 1pm BST)
15 Jamie Forbes (George Watson’s College)
14 Michael Doneghan (Stewart’s-Melville College)
13 Henry Oliver (Merchiston Castle School)
12 Craig Jackson (Melrose Wasps)
11 Courtenay Morrison (Dollar Academy)
10 Stuart Edwards (Stirling County)
9 Steven Turnbull (Whitecraigs)
1 Mathew Bradford (Allan Glen’s)
2 Richard Ferguson (Melrose Wasps)
3 Colin Phillips (Stewart’s-Melville College)
4 Michael Roy (Musselburgh)
5 Robert McAlpine (The Glasgow Academy)*
6 James Teas (Brighton College)
8 Andrew Kirkland (Glasgow Hawks)*
7 Robbie Boswell (Stirling County)
Replacements
Ross Turner (Fettes College)
David Cherry (Merchiston Castle School)
Gary Lowrie (Hawick Wanderers)
Callum Wishart (Dollar Academy)
Sean Kennedy (Stirling County)
Gregor Hunter (Gala Wanderers / Galashiels Academy)*
Danny Gilmour (Stirling County)*
Glen Bryce (Stirling County)
Chris Bloomfield (Hymers College)

This article was posted on 11-Apr-2009, 21:49 by Hugh Barrow.