Wright’s team finished bottom of the pile with no wins and will face two of the teams that handed them heavy defeats in England and Ireland in their pool along with South Africa.

Scotland will warm up for that challenge by training with last year’s runners-up Australia who they will take on in a friendly game this Friday.

And former British & Irish Lion Wright is adamant he has faith in the quality of his squad to spring a few surprises in Italy.

He said: “The quality of opposition in our pool is there for all to see, with a team [South Africa] who finished third in last year’s competition and another two [England and Ireland] who showed in the 6 Nations Championship that they’re capable of causing anybody problems.

“We respect the level of ability and intensity they’ll all bring to the table, but we’ve got a confidence in how we want to approach these games and the players have shown real buy-in with the work they’ve done on the training paddock.

“The message that lingers from the RBS 6 Nations is that we’ve got players with the skills and the attitude to really help us out on the field.

“We were hugely disappointed not to come away with better results, but there were plenty of things we can take forward into this tournament and hopefully do ourselves justice.

“If you look at our backline, for instance, there’s a lot to be excited about, particularly when you think that guys like Duncan Weir, Stuart Hogg, Mark Bennett, Mike Doneghan and Kerr Gossman are coming to the competition with experience of the professional environment.

“Up front, we’ve got a core of lads who were with us throughout the Six Nations, and who know exactly what’s required at this level. We’re excited about the ball players we have in the back row, and the task now is to ensure a quality and quantity of set-piece possession that lets us build the game we want to play.”

SCOTLAND UNDER-20 SQUAD FOR IRB JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP IN ITALY

Backs: Sam Atkin (Edinburgh Accies), Mark Bennett (Glasgow Warriors/Ayr), Glenn Bryce (Heriot’s), Michael Doneghan (Glasgow Warriors/Stirling County), Danny Gilmour (Stirling County), Stuart Edwards (Stirling County), Kerr Gossman (Glasgow Warriors/Glasgow Hawks), Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors/Hawick), Craig Jackson (Melrose), Sean Kennedy (Stirling County), Jamie Stevenson (Westcombe Park), Duncan Weir (Glasgow Warriors)

Forwards: Alex Allan (Loughborough University), David Cherry (Team Northumbria), Mitch Eadie (Bristol), Richard Ferguson (Melrose), Robin Hislop (Edinburgh/Boroughmuir), George Hunter (Glasgow Warriors/Glasgow Hawks), Robert McAlpine (West of Scotland), Colin Phillips (Edinburgh/Stewart's Melville), Grant Runciman (Melrose), Alex Spence (Heriot’s), Jamie Swanson (Boroughmuir), Mitchell Todd (Nottingham), James Tyas (Bath), Hamish Watson (Leicester Tigers) 

This article was posted on 2-Jun-2011, 06:32 by Hugh Barrow.