Scotland under-21 make one change in their squad from that on duty against Wales last week. John Beattie, now restored to fitness, is introduced on the bench instead of Sandy Warnock (Glasgow Hawks).

Team manager John Jeffrey said: “Friday night is the last chance our boys will have to prove to the management that they want to go to Argentina to play in the under-21 World Cup in June.

“We leaked some very soft tries against Wales last week and contributed to our own downfall, admittedly against a very good Welsh side.

“The players have to regard our loss to Wales as a hiccup in our season and Friday’s match is a huge game for us, not just because if the boys win we’d end up finishing third in the championship, which would be our best result ever, but also because there will be a lot of people watching as the game is live on Sky TV.”

Earlier this season Scotland under-21 defeated both Ireland and Italy; and endured a narrow loss to France.

Scotland under-21 team to play England under-21 at Franklin’s Gardens, Northampton on Friday 18 March, kick-off 7.30pm

15 Alan Nash (Watsonians and East of Scotland Institute of Sport)

14 Ben Addison (Stirling County and Central Scotland Institute of Sport)
13 Nick De Luca (Heriot’s and East of Scotland Institute of Sport)
12 Garry Law (Hawick and East of Scotland Institute of Sport)
11 Steven Manning (Ayr)

10 David Blair (Sale Sharks)
9 Alasdhair McFarlane (GHA)

1 Stuart Corsar (Aberdeen GSFP and Grampian Institute of Sport)
2 Ross Ford (The Borders and Scottish Institute of Sport)
3 Willie Blacklock (Hawick)
4 Ian Nimmo (Heriot’s and Tayside & Fife Institute of Sport)
5 Sean Tomes (Newcastle Falcons)
6 Colin White (Stirling County and Central Scotland Institute of Sport)
8 Scott Forrest (Glasgow Hawks and West of Scotland Institute of Sport)
7 Neil Cochrane (Watsonians and East of Scotland Institute of Sport) CAPTAIN

Substitutes

16 Steven Lawrie (Watsonians and East of Scotland Institute of Sport)
17 Stuart Fenwick (Ayr)
18 John Beattie (Glasgow Rugby, GHA and West of Scotland Institute of Sport)
19 Grant Strang (Aberdeen GSFP and Grampian Institute of Sport)
20 Richard Snedden (Currie)
21 Ben Di Rollo (Watsonians)
22 Douglas Flockhart (Currie)

This article was posted on 16-Mar-2005, 13:19 by Hugh Barrow.