Following last week’s four-day camp at Murrayfield, involving a training game against Melrose Storm, a trimmed Scotland under-20 squad will regroup next week for a final session before kick-off in their 6 Nations.


The reduced squad of 26 – down from 32 – includes new faces Buchan Richardson (back row/second row) and Neil Herron (centre) who were late call-ups for last week’s training game and Melrose stand-off Ben Chalmers who impressed for the opposition in last Tuesday’s game.

Reviewing last week’s camp head coach Sean Lineen said: “The players all come from different backgrounds – some are Elite Development Players (EDPs), some are club players, some are at college, so we’re trying to mould them into understanding the level of intensity at international level.


“A key role with the under-20s is to identify and develop players and promote them to the next level – and I’m excited, we have some good players here.”

Next week’s four-day camp involves a match at Netherdale against a Scotland Club XV selecton

Lineen added: “Monday and Tuesday will be two full-on tough days before we head to Gala on Wednesday. We had a great game against them [Scotland Club XV] at Ayr last year and it’ll be a real test for our guys, competing against some older, seasoned players where one of the big differences is the communication levels.


“They talk a lot whereas you can see our guys are still a little bit quieter. We need to promote that and let them express themselves.”

The squad regroup on Sunday (26 January) before their opening game of the 6 Nations, away against Ireland, on Friday 31 January (Dubarry Park, Athlone, k/o 7.05pm).

Lineen said: “That’s always a cracking game. We had our first win against Ireland in a while last year – a tight game that came down to a conversion at the end – so we know they’ll want to get one back on us. I’m looking forward to it.

“This is what it’s all about and these guys will be very excited about representing Scotland.”

Watch match action from last week’s Scotland under-20 training game and hear further from Sean

Scotland under-20 squad for 20-23 January camp

1 Magnus Bradbury (Boroughmuir/Edinburgh Rugby) **
2 Lewis Carmichael (Melrose) *
3 Ben Chalmers (Melrose)
4 Jack Cosgrove (Worcester Warriors)
5 Ben Cooper (Boroughmuir)
6 Andrew Cramond (Aberdeen Grammar)
7 Philip Cringle (Edinburgh Accies/Edinburgh Rugby) **
8 Jamie Farndale (Edinburgh Accies/Edinburgh Rugby) **
9 Cameron Fenton (Strathallen/Howe of Fife) *
10 Ross Graham (Hawick)
11 Neil Herron (Glasgow Hawks/Scotland 7s) **
12 Damien Hoyland (Melrose) *
13 Blair Hutchison (Loughborough University/Melrose)
14 Neil Irvine-Hess (Watsonians/Edinburgh Rugby) **
15 Sam James (London Wasps)
16 Cameron Jeffery (Bristol University)
17 Gavin Lowe (Glasgow Hawks/Glasgow Warriors) **
18 Murdo McAndrew (Clermont Auvergne)
19 James Malcolm (Ayr) *
20 Sam Pecqueur (Edinburgh Accies)
21 D’arcy Rae (Ayr/Glasgow Warriors) **
22 Buchan Richardson (London Scottish)
23 Tommy Spinks (London Scottish)
24 Ben Vellacott (Worcester Warriors/Hartpury)
25 Glen Young (Newcastle Falcons)
26 Ruairidh Young (Edinburgh Accies)

This article was originally posted on 15-Jan-2014, 11:13 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 15-Jan-2014, 11:45.