U20s: Scotland 18 - England 39 - Young Scots battle bravely but fall to clinical England

Scotland produced their best performance of the season to give England a much harder-than-expected match in the second round Junior World Championship Pool C match at Treviso last night, but in the end the men in white had the firepower in their back three to win the game, albeit by a flattering margin.

Defeat it might have been but pride and confidence have surely increased following a gutsy and skilful display against an England side that had won 56-8 in the Six Nations. Much of Scotland's renewed zest was down to Duncan Weir who constantly spearheaded the Scottish attack and was an exemplar figure in the team.

Head coach Peter Wright expressed the team's mixture of emotions, saying: "We're happy with our performance but disappointed with the result. At 25-18 down we were in sight of them but then three or four dubious decision went against us. We cut out the errors we committed against South Africa and were able to implement our game plan. But ultimately they could bring players with Premiership experience off the bench and that was a big factor"

From the whistle Scotland looked competitive but two penalties by Owen Farrell to one by Weir gave England a 6-3 lead. But then came a cruel blow for Scotland as England wing Marland Yarde picked off a flat pass from Weir before scorching in for a seven pointer. A Weir drop goal reduced England's lead, inspiring Scotland to play further enterprising rugby that all but brought a score after Mark Bennett initiated an attack from a tap penalty only for James Tyas to make the worst of a three-to-one overlap.

If England's first try was a tad lucky then the same could be said of their second, from a quick throw-in after the ball had been retrieved from the stand. But from then on it was the vision of Farrell whose clever kick allowed winger Christian Wade to touch down in the corner, Farrell's conversion giving England a 20-6 interval advantage.

If Scotland had been unable to capitalise on their attacking play in the first half they compensated after the break with a try by Sean Kennedy converted by Weir after Hamish Watson and Bennett supported a run by Sam Aitkin. Bennett then cut through the midfield only for England's scramble defence to prevent a score.

England brought on George Ford for Farrell at stand-off and his presence soon counted as he ghosted through a gap in the Scotland defence before giving Ryan Mills the scoring pass.

Almost immediately Scotland hit back, Craig Jackson, replacing Weir, finding Glenn Bryce before the full-back off-loaded to Kerr Gossman to give the wing a clear run to the line.The score raised hopes of a bonus point for Scotland but these were soon dashed by two England tries in the final three minutes both finished by Wade for his hat-trick and both converted by Ford, leaving Scotland agonising on what might have been but with renewed confidence ahead of their game against Ireland on Saturday.

Scorers: Scotland Under-20: Tries: Kennedy, Gossman. Con: Weir. Pen: Weir. Drop Goal: Weir. England Under-20: Tries: Wade (3), Yarde, Mills. Cons: Farrell (2), Ford (2). Pens: Farrell (2).

Scotland Under-20: G Bryce (Heriot's); S Atkin (Edinburgh Accies), M Bennett (Ayr), D Gilmour (Stirling County), K Gossman (Glasgow Hawks); D Weir (Glasgow Warriors) captain, S Kennedy (Stirling County); A Allan (Loughborough University), D Cherry (Team Northumbria), C Phillips (Stewart's-Melville), Mitch Todd (Nottingham), Robert McAlpine (West of Scotland), M Eadie (Filton College), H Watson (Leicester Tigers), James Tyas (Bath). Subs used: R Ferguson (Melrose), G Hunter (Glasgow Hawks), R Hislop (Edinburgh), J Swanson (Boroughmuir), J Stevenson (Westcombe Park), C Jackson (Melrose), G Runciman (Melrose).

England Under-20: J Joseph (London Irish); M Yarde (London Irish), E Daly (London Wasps), R Mills (Gloucester Rugby), C Wade (London Wasps); O Farrell (Saracens), D Robson (Gloucester Rugby); R Bower (Leicester Tigers), R Buchanan (Harlequins), W Collier (Harlequins), S Twomey (Harlequins), J Launchbury (London Wasps), M Kvesic (Worcester Warriors) captain, M Everard (Leicester Tigers), S Jones (London Wasps) Subs: K Britton (Gloucester Rugby), H Thomas (Sale Sharks), C Matthews (Harelquins), A Gray (Newcastle Falcons), C Cook (Bath Rugby), G Ford (Leicester Tigers), R Ransom (Saracens).