Scotland Under-18s 9 - 29 England Under-18s: Improvement not enough for young Scots

SCOTLAND Under-18s were beaten 29-9 by their English counterparts in Llandovery yesterday, despite a much- improved display.

Having been 9-5 ahead in the opening period of the first half, thanks to three penalties from the boot of Jamie Urquhart (pictured), Scotland let their opponents take the lead with two easy tries to go into the break 9-15 down.

Scotland's Jamie Stevenson and England's Marlande Yarde, who won the Daily Mail Cup at Twickenham with Whitgift, found themselves on opposing sides yesterday.

With the wind at their backs for the first half, the Scots dominated territory and possession in the opening period, the forwards performing particularly well.

Some defensive frailties, however, were effectively exposed by England who took their opportunities.

Scotland: Jamie Urquhart (Stirling County); Harris Jones (Boroughmuir), Michael Crawley (Stewart's Melville College), Jack Bradford (Worksop College), Aidan McCall Hagan (West of Scotland); Sam Knudson (Aberdeen Grammar School), Murray McConnell (Lenzie Academy/West of Scotland, capt); Robin Hislop (Hawick Wanderers), George Turner (Stewart's Melville College), Fraser Watt (East Kilbride), Stuart Smith (North Berwick), William Kay (Boroughmuir), Mitch Eadie (Filton College), Adam de Ste Croix (Boroughmuir), Lawrie Seydak (Edinburgh Academy). Substitutes used: Harry Leonard (Brighton College), Stuart Hogg (Heriot's), Andrew Hall (Strathallan), Jamie Stevenson (Whitgift), Alex Allan (Sedbergh School), Andrew Redmayne (Kilmarnock), Rory Sutherland (Hawick Wanderers).