Rugby – Scotland v England, U20 Six Nations
Coming off the back of
defeat to Ireland, Scotland’s U20 side faced England’s youngsters at
Myreside on Friday night in Round 2 of the this season’s U20 Six
Nations Championship.
And, having been dumped
out of the U20 World Chamionship last year in Argentina, a new
management structure and, as is the way of age-grade rugby, a raft of
new players were seen as the way forward.
Ireland’s U20 coach certainly saw that last week, describing the team as the best U20 Scotland side he’d seen in recent years. Only the next 80 minutes would see if that held true.
Anyway… 7:30 and
Scotland kicked off and were quickly up into England’s faces, forcing
an early scrum at the breakdown, barely 15 metres out. The pack then
destroyed the English scrum, winning their first, of many, encounters
of the game.
However, going for
broke with the penalty – Really? 15 metres out… – Nathan
Chamberlain managed to kick the ball dead and return England to
possession.
The visitors then
enjoyed a brief flurry of activity, mostly in their own half, before
a turn over near half way, returned the home side to the attack.
And attack they did.
Pressure on the English defence from some of Scotland’s big ball
carriers had them scrambling to prevent a break through and the home
side got encouragingly close to the line more than a few times.
England then regained
possession and broke away, only to lose the ball and be forced to
defend again. Once again, despite Scotland’s best efforts, they
couldn’t get through and, eventually they were turned over and the
ball cleared.
Back with the ball,
Scotland battered away at the line, but again, England held steady
until a deliberate knock down – 5 metres out and no yellow? –
followed by offside during advantage, gave the home side a penalty in
front of the posts and Chamberlain knocked over the kick for 3-0
after 15 minutes.
And then the ‘coach
killer’. Straight from the restart, England won a penalty which Manu
Vinipola kicked to within a few metres of the Scots’ line.
They then won the
lineout, manufactured a wee gap and put hooker, Theo Dan through for
the first try of the match. Vinipola then converted from wide – off
the far post – for 3-7 after 17 minutes.
From the restart,
England, came under serious pressure again from the Scots attack and
it didn’t take too long for that pressure to tell and a string of
infringements then lead to Scotland’s try.
Setting up a rolling
maul, 5 metres out, the pack, once again, crushed any opposition and
Ewan Ashman emerged from the pile up with the ball for 8-7, then,
quickly, 10-7 thanks to Chamberlain, on the 22nd minute
mark.
Following that score,
England gradually gained a bit of an upper hand, and spent more time
than of late in the Scotland half, interrupted by another dangerous
assault on their defence, but the visitors were looking better than
they had up to that point.
As the break
approached, England were making space in the Scots defensive line
and, then the ball was slung wide and Freddie Steward was in the
clear down the right to sprint in and go over in the corner. Using
all his luck in this one game, Vinipola then converted off the same
post as before for 10-14 at half time.
The first 10, or so,
minutes of the second half were more of the same. Scotland were
easily the dominant side and it was only powerful defence from the
English side – aided by another raft of penalties inside the 22 –
and still no cards – that kept the score as is.
But, pressure told. A
maul in the corner, off the top of yet another penalty line out, was
held up by the visitors and the subsequent scrum was then illegally
challenged by England, prompting the French referee to, finally, give
his first warning of the match.
Going for touch,
Scotland won their line out, set up their rolling maul and were duly
pulled down again. No option this time, but for the referee to award
a penalty try and a yellow card. So, Scotland were now in the lead
17-14 after 54 minutes and against 14 men.
For most of the next 20
minutes, or so, Scotland were well on top, with the visitors
struggling to make much in the way of ground, but that old Scottish
talent – in any sport we play – of being almost completely
dominant, but failing to score, won through and England kept their
try line intact.
With 10 minutes left to
play, England came roaring back into the game and made great gains.
Taking advantage of a ‘not straight’ line out, they made acres of
space and, eventually, centre, Conor Doherty, crashed through for
their third try and the lead, leaving Viipola with an easy conversion
for 17-21.
The final few minutes
were spent with Scotland, largely, on the defensive as England probed
away and wasting precious, for the home side, time with pointless
drop goal attempts from distance.
Scotland had a last
flurry down the right, for old times sake, but this was easily
snuffed out and England emerged as 17-21 winners of a match where
they barely saw the opposition 22, never mind the line. But, like all
class sides, when they did, they made it count, leaving the,
overwhelmingly, dominant Scots to rue, yet another, brave defeat.
Images from the match will appear here over the next few days.