THE Scotland Under-20 coaches have opened the door to more new talents for next month’s IRB Junior World Championship in Wales after a disappointing winless run in the U-20 Six Nations.
After missing that tournament through injury, prop Joe Stafford has been included alongside scrum-half Peter Jericevich, Scotland’s U-19 Player of the Season, Niall Shannon, the hooker, full-back Peter Horne and flanker Andrew Rose in a 26-man squad
named yesterday.
These are the first world championships at this age level since the IRB decided to drop U-19s and U-21s tournaments in favour of one age category. The Scots kick-off on Friday, 6 June with a game against Samoa and continue with matches against South Africa (Tuesday, 10 June) and USA (Saturday, 14 June) at Wrexham’s Racecourse Ground.
Colin Robertson, the U-20s coach, is pleased to have new talents on board and confident the Scottish team can pick up after the Six Nations disappointment. He said: “Looking back at the Six Nations, the results didn’t reflect some good performances.”
Scotland under-20 squad (for the IRB Junior World Championship in June, Racecourse Ground, Wrexham): Backs – M Allan (Loughborough University), T Bury (Boroughmuir), R Jackson (Glasgow Hawks), L Jones (Selkirk), C Kinloch (Edinburgh Academicals), P Loudon (Durham University), S McColl (Dunfermline), J Murray (Leeds Carnegie/Edinburgh Academicals), P Horne (Howe of Fife), P Jericevich (GHA), S Wilson (Dundee HSFP), R Samson (Newcastle Falcons); Forwards – J Baird (Watsonians), S Burton (Currie), L Calder (Newcastle, capt), A Dixon (Aberdeen Grammar FP), A Duncan (Stewart’s-Melville FP), F McKenzie (Heriot’s), L Niven (Edinburgh Academicals), N Patrick (Dunfermline), G Strain (Glasgow Hawks), C Simmonds (Heriot’s), J Stafford (Hillhead/Jordanhill), R Gray (Stirling County), A Rose (Gloucester), N Shannon (Aberdeen Grammar FP).
The full article contains 310 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
