Inverness the venue for U20 opener in Six Nations

Published on Thursday 3 December 2009 22:05

THE Scotland Under-20 team will open their Six Nations campaign in Inverness.

The match against France Under-20s will take place at Caledonian Stadium, on Friday 5 February with a 7.30pm kick-off and, in keeping with the initiative launched by the Scottish Rugby Union last season, admission will be free for all.

Adding interest to the tie is the prospect of seeing Caithness scrum-half Kris Hamilton swap his club's green and yellow for the blue of Scotland, following his selection in the initial age-grade squad.

Speaking from yesterday's announcement at the stadium, Hamilton said: "Given that Wick is 110 miles north of Inverness, the match presents the best opportunity for my friends, family and all rugby supporters in the north to come and watch a rugby side represent Scotland. I expect we'll get big vocal crowd who'll get right behind the team in this crucial opening match in the Six Nations campaign."

The Caithness coach, Colin Sangster, relished the prospect of seeing Hamilton making the step up. He said: "Kris could well make the final cut. If this happened then there would not be enough buses in Caithness to ferry everyone to Inverness who would want to see the game. With the game being so close it would definitely be a big draw to players and supporters who would really appreciate having a quality international match within the region.

"For younger players who are aspiring to play at the highest level that they can, it would show them first hand the standard that they will have to attain in order to pull on the dark blue jersey themselves one day."

Following Scotland's 41-0 win over Canada at Pittodrie in Aberdeen last season, the city and towns of the Highlands are gearing up for their first international since Scotland Under-21s took on Wales in 2003.

Darren Mackintosh, the commercial manager of Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC, added: "We're delighted to carry on the rugby connection by staging the Scotland-France Under-20 match featuring players who could soon be household names.

"Football fans who possibly have never seen live rugby will come along, while rugby fans who have not been to the stadium will also do so, so it's a win-win situation for both sports. We're pleased to be working with the Scottish Rugby Union and we hope this event will prove to be a real crowd-puller."