Scotland U20 rue 'needless errors' as England man sees red for elbow

Scotland Under-20s returned to the elite World Rugby U20 Championship for the first time in six years and it was a tough reintroduction against the champions, England, in the heat of Italy.

The young Scots scored first and last but a fatal spell in the second quarter sewed the seeds for their downfall in Verona. They lost 56-19 against opponents who had too much raw power and outscored them by eight tries to three.

Scotland trailed 42-12 at the break but showed more durability in the second half, keeping England out until the 72nd minute. They were helped by their opponents being reduced to 14 men, with flanker George Timmins being sent off for bringing his elbow down into the face of Ollie Blyth-Lafferty as the Scotland prop lay on the floor.

England's Tyler Offiah on the attack against Scotland during the World Rugby U20 Championship Pool A match at Payanini Center in Verona. | Luca Sighinolfi / World Rugby

It was a nasty-looking incident and worthy of the permanent red card administered by New Zealand referee Marcus Playle. Blyth-Lafferty, who had impressed in the scrum, had to go off for treatment but, happily, he was able to return.

“He got an elbow in the eye effectively, that's what the red card was for, so he's got some stitches just underneath his eye,” said Kenny Murray, the Scotland U20 coach. “Hopefully we can get him through into the next game. It doesn't look like anything too major to be honest.”

Scotland took the lead through a well-worked try from Noah Cowan after an inch-perfect cross-kick by Matthew Urwin found Fergus Watson. They were also awarded a penalty try inside the first 12 minutes but England powered away just before the halfway point of the first half.

“Disappointed with that 15 to 40-minute period which was probably where we lost the game,” said Murray. “We conceded some soft tries. I thought we made some just needless errors, some individual errors, connections in defence let us down a few times and at this level, and against a team like that, when you make those errors you put yourself under pressure.

Son of rugby league legend barged into touch

“I was pleased with the way we started, obviously got a few tries early on and we have spoken about starting fast. We didn't build on that in terms of keeping them out and trying to really push for more tries.

“At half time when you're down by that amount of points it's always tough for the players but I thought they showed a lot of resolve in the second half.

England were awarded a penalty try when Watson barged Tyler Offiah into touch with a no-arms tackle as the son of England rugby league legend Martin looked set to score in the corner. Then came Scotland’s penalty try which edged them 12-7 ahead.

Hector Patterson dives over to score a try for Scotland against England in the World Rugby U20 Championship in Verona. | Luca Sighinolfi / World Rugby

After that, it was one-way traffic for the remainder of the first half as Jack Bracken (two), Kane James (two) and Will Knight ran in tries for England, with Ben Coen converting them all.

Hocking’s long awaited return

Scotland were far more robust after the break and produced some impressive defence sets in their own 22. Murray utilised his bench and Jack Hocking was introduced for his first competitive match in 267 days after injury.

England eventually broke through with eight minutes left, scoring tries in quick succession through Josh Bellamy and Ben Redshaw, but Scotland had the last word with a fine try from Hector Patterson after a break by Kerr Yule. Paterson collected his own chip to score and Urwin added the conversion.

It’s Australia up next for Scotland on Friday in Viadana. The junior Wallabies suffered a 73-17 pummelling at the hand of South Africa in their Pool A opener on Sunday.

Teams and scorers

Scorers: England U20: Tries: penalty try, Bracken 2, James 2, Knight, Bellamy, Redshaw. Cons: Coen 5, Bellamy 2. Scotland U20: Tries: Cowan, penalty try, Paterson. Con: Urwin.

Red card: Timmins (Eng, 53min). Yellow cards: Watson (Sco, 8min), Gulley (Eng, 12min).

Scotland U20: 15. Jack Brown (Edinburgh); 14. Nairn Moncrieff (Edinburgh); 13. Johnny Ventisei (Glasgow; capt), 12. Kerr Yule (Glasgow), 11. Fergus Watson (Glasgow); 10. Matthew Urwin (Glasgow), 9. Noah Cowan (Brunel Univ/Ealing Trailfinders); 1. Jake Shearer (Glasgow), 2. Joe Roberts (Glasgow), 3. Ollie Blyth-Lafferty (Edinburgh). 4. Bart Godsell (Loughborough Univ), 5. Dan Halkon (Glasgow), 6. Charlie Moss (Montpellier), 7. Oliver Duncan (Edinburgh), 8. Reuben Logan (Northampton).

Replacements: 16. Seb Stephen (Glasgow), 17. Oliver McKenna (Glasgow), 18. Jamie Stewart (Edinburgh), 19. Dylan Cockburn (Melrose). 20. Mark Fyffe (Univ of Edinburgh), 21. Oliver Finlayson-Russell (Univ of St Andrews), 22. Hector Patterson (Edinburgh), 23. Jack Hocking (Edinburgh).

England U20: 15. Josh Bellamy (Harlequins); 14. Jack Bracken (Saracens), 13. Nick Lilley (Exeter ), 12. Will Knight (Gloucester), 11. Tyler Offiah (Bath); 10. Ben Coen (Exeter), 9. Jonny Weimann (Northampton); 1. Ralph McEachran (Sale), 2. Louie Gulley (Exeter), 3. Tye Raymont (Sale), 4. Tom Burrow (Sale Sharks; capt), 5. Junior Kpoku (Racing 92), 6. George Timmins (Bath), 7. Samuel Williams (Leicester), 8 Kane James (Exeter).

Replacements: 16. Kepu Tuipulotu (Bath), 17. Oli Scola (Northampton), 18. Vilikesa Sela (Bath), 19. Olamide Sodeke (Saracens), 20. Aiden Ainsworth-Cave (Northampton), 21. Archie McParland (Northampton), 22. Campbell Ridl (Exeter), 23. Ben Redshaw (Newcastle).

Referee: Marcus Playle (NZ).