Scotland U18 25 - 0 Ireland U18: Lift for Scots

SCOTLAND gave themselves a morale-boosting victory ahead of their opening game of the FIRA-AER tournament against Wales in Grenoble later this month with a solid win over Ireland clubs under-18 at Hamilton yesterday.

On a rain and snow-sodden pitch, the young Scots played to their forward strength with impressive set-piece play and effective ball-carrying by their big forwards, but the backs had little chance to play open rugby.

Scotland Under-18 head coach, Eddie Pollock said: “We carried the ball well in the first half and put Ireland under a lot of pressure. Our line-out functioned well and we were strong in the scrums.”

Outstanding for Scotland were No 8 Magnus Bradbury and locks Lewis Carmichael and James Ritchie. Full-back Gavin Lowe, the man of the match, and scrum-half Ben Vellacot.

A break by Bradbury opened the way for Scotland’s first try by back-row, Neil Irvine-Hess. Lowe kicked the conversion and then added the extra points to a try by Carmichael for a 14-0 half-time lead. The gap widened after the break with two penalty goals by Lowe and a second try by Carmichael.