Full Scotland international named in Scotland U20 team to play England U20

Freddy Douglas will make his return from injury in Scotland Under-20s’ game against their England counterparts in Newcastle on Friday evening.

Douglas, 19, has been sidelined since December 6 when he picked up an ankle injury playing for Edinburgh against Gloucester in the Challenge Cup.

The gifted flanker was playing only his second senior match for the pro team after a whirlwind month which saw him make his full Scotland debut against Portugal, then turn in a man-of-the-match performance for Scotland A against Chile. He also signed his first professional deal with Edinburgh and made his bow for them off the bench in the win over Benetton.

Freddy Douglas made his full Scotland debut against Portugal in November. | SNS Group

This rapid progress was halted by the ankle issue but he now returns to boost Scotland U20s who are chasing their first win in the U20 Six Nations Championship following defeats by Italy and Ireland.

Friday’s match at Kingston Park will be a tough test for the young Scots against last season’s champions who have already beaten France and Ireland in this year’s tournament. Kenny Murray, the Scotland U20 head coach, has made five changes, all of them in the pack.

There are two changes in the front row as Jake Shearer comes in at loosehead prop and Seb Stephen starts at hooker. They are joined by Ollie Blyth-Lafferty who keeps the tighthead prop berth.

In the second row, Dan Halkon is joined by Bart Godsell, who makes his first start of the tournament. Douglas starts at openside flanker and is joined in the back row by Oliver Duncan, the final change to the side, at blindside flanker, and Reuben Logan at No 8.

“England have made a good start to the tournament and are a strong side, so we’ll need to up our performance levels from the first two games which we know this group can do,” said Murray.

“It’s excellent to welcome back Freddy Douglas and I’m sure the experience that he brings from playing for his club and country at senior level will be really valuable for the rest of the squad.

Freddy Douglas arrives at Murrayfield for his Scotland debut. | SNS Group / SRU

“We’re still looking for that 80-minute performance. We have competed in parts our games so far but as we build towards our return to the U20 Championship in summer, it’s important that we keep improving and competing for full matches.”

The Scotland backline is unchanged and is made up of half-backs Noah Cowan and Matthew Urwin, centres Kerr Yule and captain Johnny Ventisei, wings Fergus Watson and Nairn Moncrieff and full-back Jack Brown.

With Hector Patterson ruled out through injury, scrum-half Hamish MacArthur joins the backs replacements.

Scotland U20 v England U20, Friday, Kingston Park, 7.15pm (live on BBC iPlayer)

15. Jack Brown (Edinburgh); 14. Nairn Moncrieff (Edinburgh), 13. Johnny Ventisei (Glasgow Warriors), 12. Kerr Yule (Glasgow Warriors), 11. Fergus Watson (Glasgow Warriors); 10. Matthew Urwin (Glasgow Warriors), 9. Noah Cowan (Brunel Univ/Ealing Trailfinders); 1. Jake Shearer (Glasgow Warriors), 2. Seb Stephen (Edinburgh Academical), 3. Ollie Blyth-Lafferty (Edinburgh), 4. Bart Godsell (Loughborough Univ), 5. Dan Halkon (Glasgow Warriors), 6. Oliver Duncan (Edinburgh), 7. Freddy Douglas (Edinburgh), 8. Reuben Logan (Northampton Saints).

Replacements: 16. Joe Roberts (Glasgow Warriors), 17. Oliver McKenna (Glasgow Warriors), 18. Jamie Stewart (Edinburgh), 19. Charlie Moss (Montpellier), 20. Billy Allen (Dungannon), 21. Hamish MacArthur (Edinburgh), 22. Campbell Waugh (Glasgow Hawks), 23. Ross Wolfenden (Edinburgh).