Scotland on Sunday reports

Peter Wright has faced a few challenges in his eventful life. Dragging the underachieving Glasgow Hawks to the Premier One title three times in succession was one and keeping his language decent during his regular BBC Radio Scotland commentaries is another.

But neither comes remotely close to the sporting Mont Blanc that rises above him and his Scotland under-20 squad over the next few weeks.

A group of players who failed to win a solitary match in the Six Nations must play five games in 16 days against some of the best teams in world rugby. They kick off with South Africa this Friday coming, followed closely by England and Ireland. That isn't a light at the end of the tunnel, it's a locomotive and Wright admits that a canny use of his limited resources is required if Scotland are to survive, never mind thrive.

In the USA this schedule would be classed as cruel and unusual punishment but, if one of Scottish rugby's most recognisable characters is fazed by the prospect, he is hiding it well. "Wrighty" doesn't go in for amateur dramatics or histrionics, instead he specialises in searing honesty, which he why he pinpoints his squad's primary goal in Italy.

"You've got to have hopes and you have to set yourself targets but the thing about this World Championships is that there is relegation and, while it may sound negative, our first target is to avoid relegation.

"There are 12 teams in the competition and, on the final day's play, the loser of the 11th versus 12th place play-off will be relegated so we have to make sure that it's not us. It's a horrible thing to say but we didn't win any games in the Six Nations, although we got better as the season went on.

"The game you want to win is your fourth match, that's the vital one. We need to make sure that all guns are blazing for that one." That presumes, of course, that the young Scots haven't used up all their powder in restricting England and South Africa to respectable scores. England put 56 points on them during the Six Nations and, when the Scots came across South Africa in the junior World Championships last year in Argentina, they leaked 73 points. South Africa have publicly stated that they are picking the biggest and most physical side they can find because they felt they were bullied last season, although goodness knows who by.

Scotland's problem now is much the same as it was back then and Wright wonders out loud about the structures of other countries, which always seem to be better than those in Scotland, and pinpoints the lack of intensity in the youth game from the ages of 15 to 17.

The under-18 cup that was supposed to combine schools and clubs in one single competition appears to be no nearer happening now than it was when the SRU AGM voted it into being two years ago.

At least Wright finds a few reasons to hope for slightly better results in this tournament than his side managed in the Six Nations. Rob Moffat joins the squad as a specialist skills coach and his ability to coax the best out of individual players will be crucial, as will the late introduction of several well-known names.

"We have a couple of guys coming back into the squad who will strengthen it," says Wright. "We didn't see Duncan Weir throughout the Six Nations because he was playing for Glasgow and Stuart Hogg only played for us once. 

"In addition to them, we have a couple of guys back from injury including Danny Gilmour, a centre from Stirling County, and Jamie Swanston who is a big, ball-carrying six or eight from Boroughmuir and we don't get a lot of players like him in Scottish rugby." 

The strength of the age-grade side probably lies in the back division, which boasts not only Weir and Hogg but also the find of the season in Ayr's Mark Bennett, although he jumps the ditch this summer to join the Clermont Auvergne academy.

These are the three players that Wright picks as the most likely to make it in the professional world and all three already have experience with Glasgow.

Bennett, easily the youngest of the trio, acquitted himself well in his one start against Leinster late in the season. The forwards have problems and their match against Wales last February proved, as if anyone needed further evidence, that you can't play rugby without the ball.

How the Scots stayed in touch with their opposition until half time is one of the mysteries of the universe because they didn't have a set scrum worth the name. Wright reveals that their scrum stability (the number of solid scrums Scotland enjoyed throughout the tournament) was down at 23 per cent. Thankfully the lineout stats were around 92 per cent, ensuring some supply of possession.

To help anchor the scrum Wright has called up an exile prop in the form of Alex Alan from Loughborough University, where he plays alongside Scotland coach Andy Robinson's son Ollie. The Scots will target a win against Ireland and, if that fails, they will hope to beat the likes of Fiji, Tonga or even Italy in their fourth match and avoid the dreaded relegation play-off.

That said, Italy narrowly beat Scotland in the under-20 Six Nations at Stirling County's Bridgehaugh ground and no one can be confident of reversing that result when the opposition have the added advantage of playing at home.

It promises to be a long and arduous fortnight of action for the next generation of Scots, who will nevertheless hope to match last year's tenth place. With relegation an ever-present risk, the stakes are high but the rewards are there for all to see.

This article was originally posted on 5-Jun-2011, 06:41 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 5-Jun-2011, 22:11.