Iain Morrison: Surprise triumphs over Auld Enemy show that age-grade national teams have made real progress

Published on Friday 15 April 2011 19:03

IF Andy Robinson thinks he has a problem with the paucity of players to choose from, he should try coaching one of the national age-grade teams who are selected from what is more a puddle than a pool of talent.

It makes winning tough and, just two years ago, the Scottish under-18s lost twin Tests against their English counterparts by a combined score of 138-0.

So it was as welcome as it was unexpected when the U17 and U18 teams both triumphed over the Auld Enemy in recent weeks. Both matches were also away from home, in Leeds

The U18s kickstarted things with a 26-21 victory just a week after losing to Japan High Schools in Glasgow. The U17s then backed them up with a very healthy 30-10 win over the nation which boasts the largest number of players on the planet.

Many rugby enthusiasts would recognise Mark Bennet's name from the U20 squad but another Ayr midfielder in the form of Robbie Ferguson took centre stage for the U18s. Ferguson showed up well for Kenny Murray's side in the British and Irish Cup and he was just as assured for the international side.

Merchiston stand-off Sam Hidalgo Clyne is able to call upon a running and kicking game and controlled the game well, while speedy winger Jamie Farndale and full-back Keith Buchan provided the tries. They were not the only backs to shine. While five pointers as rare as hen's teeth for the senior side, the U17s scored three against England and all of them came from the three-quarter line. Again the stand-off, Ben Cooper of Sedburgh in Cumbria, one of England's leading rugby schools, pulled the strings but a Glaswegian in the muscular form of Neil Herron from Jordanhill School stole the headlines with a standout performance that included one of the touchdowns.

Former Boroughmuir breakaway Ben Fisher is now a regional academy coach and an assistant to the U17s, which means he knows Scotland's age-grade rugby teams as well as anyone. He counselled the players against getting too far ahead of themselves but hopes that the days of dismal one-sided wallopings are behind them.

"I wouldn't like to think that it's a one-off," said Fisher. "We are all working very hard to bring more consistency to the age-grade results. I can only really speak for the last three years that I've been in this post but we are identifying players at a younger age and offering them the support they need.

"We have hosted big skill sessions every fortnight, originally under Stevie Scott, before he moved south, all the way from August to January.They have involved the national coaches Andy Robinson and Gregor Townsend and someone like Neil Herron has benefited massively with a 97 per cent attendance record.

"We know our player pool is not large so we can't afford to exclude anyone, we can't leave any stone unturned, and one of our guys regularly makes the trip to Orkney to see what's happening up there."

The wide casting of the age-grade net seems to be working because Glasgow recently fielded a player from the Isle of Mull in their U16 side.

Following their victory over England, the U18 side blotted their copybook somewhat by losing to both Ireland and Wales but the U17s can take the self-belief they generated in Leeds on to the field this afternoon when they face France A in a tournament at Wellington College in Berkshire.

The young Scots also face England Blue and England Red (unlike the England team they have already beaten, these two teams are marginally younger than the Scots) before returning home to finish off their season with a tricky game against France's full team in Selkirk on 1 May.

"We don't want to get ahead of ourselves," says Fisher, "but we are competitive at U17 and U18 but we need to be more consistent. We get one or two good results but the players have to aim for good results in all the games and then we might be getting somewhere."

The last U18 team to beat England back in 2003 produced three Scotland caps in the shape of Ben Cairns, Johnnie Beattie and John Barclay.

The combined efforts of this season's U17 and U18 teams should beat that number.