Scotland Under-20s come so close to famous victory over England in Six Nations thriller

Scotland Under-20s were denied a famous victory against their English counterparts at Twickenham Stoop, with a phenomenal fightback from 21 points down proving in vain as a 72nd-minute Tobias Elliot try for the hosts gave them a 41-36 win in the first match of the 2023 Six Nations.
Scotland's Jonny Morris at full time during an Under-20's Six Nations match between England and Scotland at Twickenham Stoop/Scotland's Jonny Morris at full time during an Under-20's Six Nations match between England and Scotland at Twickenham Stoop/
Scotland's Jonny Morris at full time during an Under-20's Six Nations match between England and Scotland at Twickenham Stoop/

Kenny Murray’s young Scots were desperately unlucky to miss out on a first win in 15 matches, but can take great credit and no little encouragement for the rest of the tournament from picking up a losing bonus-point in a match which looked before kick-off and during the first 20 minutes like a potential bloodbath.

A Josh Hathaway hat-trick inside the first 14 minutes set England on course, but the Scots hung in there gamely during that period, and even scored a fine try through second-row Harris McLeod, after a thunderous carry from Rudi Brown and a neat offload from Richie Simpson. Simpson also slotted a breakdown penalty to keep his team in the contest, but when England back-rowers Chandler Cunningham-South and Finn Carnduff both scored in quick order, the writing appeared to be on the wall.

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However, Scotland dug deep again, and Brown claimed the visitors’ second try of the evening following some powerful running in midfield from No 8 Jonny Morris, and another Simpson penalty on the stroke of half-time brought it back to an improbable 11-point game.

Rested and refreshed, Scotland fired out the blocks after the break do win a sequence of ruck penalties, which eventually created the field position for co-captain Liam McConnell to burrow over, setting up a straight-forward conversion for Simpson which narrowed the gap to just four points.

Simpson then slotted three penalties on the bounce and it looked like a shock win was on the cards, but England were never going to go down without a fight, and once they had regathered their composure, they were able to squeeze back into the lead through a Tobias Elliot try, converted by Sam Harris, who also added a late penalty.

It was a bittersweet evening for the Scots, but, ultimately, they will be able to look back at this match with a huge amount of pride.