The Scotsman reports

By DAVID FERGUSON
WHILE Scotland coaches of recent times may have scratched their heads trying to find great stand-offs, the age-grade teams continue to have the dilemma of which of several talents to hand the No10 jersey to.
After Alex Blair pipped the likes of Matthew Scott and Ross Aitken to the position with Scotland U20s, this week it has fallen to Scotland under-19 head coach Bob McKillop who has opted to start Stuart Edwards in the stand-off role, and the Stirling County talent will also captain the team that will face Italy under-19s in Parabiago on Saturday.

Edwards is a highly-rated playmaker and follows in the footsteps of County team-mate Grant Gilchrist who led Scotland's under-19 side last year. McKillop believes the 18-year-old has the ideal skills to captain the team, but to accommodate him he has had to shift Glasgow Hawks' equally promising 18-year-old stand-off Duncan Weir – who has signed pro forms with Glasgow for next season – to inside centre.

McKillop said: "Stuart is a very clear communicator and clear thinker. He is somebody who has caught on very quickly to the things that we are trying to achieve on the pitch. I'm very confident Stuart will put into practice the things that we have been working hard on.

"There has been a lot of competition for places and selection of this team has not been easy – there have been lots of lengthy discussions. They are a good group of guys and they know what they want to get out of this programme. I'm sure they are going to work hard for each other in order to achieve those goals."

After the match in northern Italy, Scotland will face France under-19s at Braidholm on Sunday, 11 April (2pm, free entry). The under-19s no longer have a World Cup tournament, but McKillop insisted these matches were still vital to help prepare the players for the demands of the under-20 programme next year, which does lead to a World Cup.

"The main objective from the two-game programme is that we want to win both matches," he added. "But also, in the longer term, we want to prepare these players for the under-20 programme which is a huge year in their development. The fixtures may be limited, but I believe this is a very important part of their education as rugby players."

Scotland U19 (v Italy U19 at Parabiago on Saturday, 3 April, 2.30pm local time): G Bryce (Stirling County); M Doneghan (Stewart's Melville FP), D Gilmour (Stirling County), D Weir (Glasgow Hawks), K Gossman (Glasgow Hawks); S Edwards (Stirling County) capt, S Turnbull (Hamilton); N Fraser (Boroughmuir), D Cherry (Edinburgh Academical), S Quigley (Hull Ionians), B McPherson (Ayr), R McAlpine (West of Scotland), J Tyas (Brighton College), R Boswell (Stirling County), C Orr (Boroughmuir). Substitutes: R Ferguson (Melrose), D Morrison (North Walsham), C Keen (Kelso), A Kirkland (Glasgow Hawks), L Crosbie (Dunfermline), J Forbes (Watsonians), C Jackson (Melrose).

This article was originally posted on 31-Mar-2010, 20:00 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 31-Mar-2010, 20:02.