THE Scotland Under-20 side will be without three key players for the game against Wales tomorrow night due to their professional commitments. Jamie Ritchie and Blair Kinghorn of Edinburgh, along with Adam Hastings of Bath, miss out on the match in Colwyn Bay.
John Dalziel, the head coach, has promoted three substitutes from last week’s win over England to cover for the absentees. Callum Hunter-Hill comes in at lock as an indirect replacement for Ritchie, with Andrew Davidson moving from the second row to the back row. Ruari Howarth starts at full-back in place of Kinghorn, while George Taylor will play at outside centre, with Rory Hutchinson moving from the midfield to stand-off to take over from Hastings.
The 24-6 win over England got the age-group side’s Six Nations Championship campaign off to the best possible start, but Dalziel knows it will be difficult to claim back-to-back wins against opponents who also won their opening match, beating Ireland 35-24. “Wales are always going to be physical and play a good brand of rugby, and, like us, confidence will be high from their victory in the first round, so we know how tough it’s going to be down there,” he said after announcing his team yesterday. “There’s a lot of rugby to be played in this tournament and we can’t rest on our laurels. We need to keep building.”
Wales have also made three changes to their starting line-up. They have lost Adam Beard and Owen Watkin, who have been called up by Ospreys, and substitute Jarrod Evans, who is in the Cardiff Blues squad for their PRO12 match.
Scotland Under-20s (v Wales Under-20s in Colwyn Bay, tomorrow, 6.30pm): R Howarth; D Graham, G Taylor, T Galbraith, R Nairn; R Hutchinson, H Fraser; M McCallum, J Kerr, C Sheldon, C Hunter-Hill, S Cummings, A Davidson, M Smith, A Miller. Substitutes: L Anderson, G Thornton, A Nicol, S Ainslie, S Burnside, C Shiel, C Lines, B Robbins.
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