Gritty Scotland Under-20s snap long 15-game wait for victory after Six Nations win over Wales

After a 15-game wait, Scotland Under-20s tasted success for the first time since March 2020 off the back of a disciplined, hard-working and smart performance against Wales on a wet and windy night at Scotstoun. It wasn’t a classic but Kenny Murray’s side showed real grit to win 18-17.
Scotland's Rudi Brown is taken down by two Wales players during the match at Scotstoun.Scotland's Rudi Brown is taken down by two Wales players during the match at Scotstoun.
Scotland's Rudi Brown is taken down by two Wales players during the match at Scotstoun.

They battled to an 8-0 lead at half-time thanks to a Rudi Brown try off the back of a line-out maul, and Ben Afshar penalty, but will have been frustrated that they could not build up more of a scoreboard advantage, especially as their opponents lost two players to the sin-bin – scrum-half Archie Hughes for not rolling away and prop Dylan Kelleher-Griffiths for a late tackle on Afshar – during the final five minutes of that first period.

With the wind at their backs, Wales started the second period in commanding fashion, claiming their first try of the night on 44 minutes when Morgan Morse picked up from the base of a solid scrum and powering past Scotland's sleepy defence. Scotland rallied immediately and man-of-the-match Liam McConnell thought he'd wrestled his way over the line after another powerful burst from Brown, but after a lengthy referral to the TMO city was ruled that the ball had been held up.

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The home side kept their foot on the gas, and got their reward with a penalty try, which also saw Morse yellow-carded for lifting a Scottish leg to try to disrupt a maul which was powering towards his own line.

Despite being a man down – again – Wales responded positively with Edwards kicking a penalty after Kerr Yule strayed offside chasing a sliced clearance, and they then scored the try of the match when great hands from Edwards and Cam Winnett gave Oli Andrew a sniff on the right, and the winger danced back inside three dark blue jerseys to score.

However, Scotland were in no mood to give up on this one, and a Dan King penalty put them back in front, and they then showed impressive composure to close out the match.

There was a fourth yellow-card shown to Wales in the final minute against Lewis Lloyd for a tip-tackle on Duncan Munn.