THE SCOTSMAN REPORTS

Young Scots mauled by English counterparts



Published Date: 16 April 2009
By Alan Lorimer
Scotland Under-18 0

England Under-18 75
SCOTLAND suffered their second crushing defeat by England in the space of a month after losing to their southern neighbours in the second round of the Five Nations under 18 Festival at Viadana last night.

In an awesome display of power and pace EnADVERTISEMENT

gland ran in 11 tries. "This an excellent England side and one that is very difficult to play against," said Scotland under 18 coach Grant McKelvey, adding: "From one to 15 they have excellent skills and gas to burn. They are big men but very skilful."

There were some encouraging pieces of play from the young Scots in the first half when in a ten-minute spell they were able to put pressure on England and force their opponents to make mistakes. But the final result confirmed the gap that exists between the Scottish age-group system and the professionalised system south of the border.

Individually, Craig Jackson again showed up well in the centre and is certainly a player for the future and one that would benefit from the English clubs academy system. Elsewhere there were good defensive efforts from flanker Duncan Finnie, stand-off Gregor Hunter and lock Michael Roy but these were straws to grasp on a night when English rugby looked ominously supreme.

Scorers: Tries - Vunipola, Edgerley (2), Everard, Sharp (2), Farrell, Wade, Ford, Thomas, Watson; Cons Sharp (10).

Scotland U18: G Bryce; M Doneghan , H Oliver, C Jackson, C Morrison; G Hunter, S Kennedy; R Turner, D Cherry, C Phillips , M Roy, R McCalpine, J Tyas, D Finnie, A Kirkland. Subs used M Bradford , R Ferguson , C Wishart, C Bloomfield , S Edwards, D Gilmour , S Turnbull

England U18: J Elliott; C Wade, A Short, O Farrell, S Edgerley; J Sharp, S Stuart; R Buchanan, P Austin, R Bower, S Twomey, C Matthews, B Vunipola, M Everard, A Gray. Subs used: M Vunipola, H Thomas, G Ford, J Joseph, M Watson.

Referee: P Haycock (Ireland).

This article was originally posted on 16-Apr-2009, 07:04 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 16-Apr-2009, 07:06.