IF there is anyone out there not aware that Scottish Rugby’s Achilles heel is a lack of depth then last night’s humiliating defeat by England in the second round of the World Rugby Under-20 Championship at the Manchester City Academy Stadium should be a rude reminder.
Scotland went into this match without three of their top backline players and their Glasgow Warriors and senior Scotland cap Zander Fagerson. Their absence left just too big a gap and in the event England exploited the resultant lack of experience ruthlessly and notably in the set scrum.
For Scottish fans the scrums were painful to watch as England applied their megawatt shifting power to shunt the Scots backwards and milk penalties from a compliant Irish referee, and garnering points from this area of the game.
Scotland head coach, John Dalziel said: “We had 13 penalties against us in the first half. I’m really disappointed with the result. I thought England played really well and took their chances. We knew they’d be strong today on their home patch. If you look at the story of the game it was error, error, error and they were really costly. They forced us back into scrums and we were under pressure again.
“The guys are hurting in the dressing room but they said the right things and we’ll try to channel that into preparations for the next game against Italy on Wednesday.”
England had beefed up their team by bringing in a number of Premiership players, who for the Six Nations Championship, had not been released by their clubs. “I think they made a big difference.” admitted the England coach, Martin Haag, adding : “They’ve got the experience and the knowledge, but the guys who played in the Six Nations are beginning to step up.”
Scotland blooded several new players, among them the Ayr hooker Lewis Anderson. The former Marr College player said: “Once I got on, the nervousness was flushed away. It was a terrific experience playing in front of such a large crowd. They’re a good side and well-drilled.”
In defeat a number of Scots were still able to post good performances, notably Jamie Richie at flanker, replacement back row and replacement scrum-half Charlie Shiel.
Elsewhere Blair Kinghorn at stand-off suffered from a lack of quality first-phase possession and at times looked less than comfortable in the No 10 shirt. Kinghorn’s kicking was variable in quality and the big Edinburgh teenager may be happier when he is reacquainted with the full-back position.
Kinghorn, of course, was made to look less than top drawer by playing opposite England’s wunderkid, Harry Mallinder, who has been posting impressive performances for Northampton Saints in recent months. Mallinder kicked well both from the tee and from hand, tormenting the Scots with high kicks and accounting for 12 of his side’s points with accurate goal kicking.
At the end of a penalty punctuated first half that was not the best advert for rugby, England led 13-0 and might have been further ahead with more accuracy in finishing. All their first-half points came directly or indirectly from set scrum penalties liberally dished out by referee Andrew Brace.
Two of these were converted into points through the massive boot of Mallinder and a third resulted in a try straight from the England playing manual, Mallinder kicking for touch and then the forwards driving the resultant line-out to create a trademark try.
The introduction of more experienced forwards off the bench put more spark into the Scotland performance, but England soon gave their backs the green light to show off their talents. The results were soon evident as Darren Atkins escaped down the right touchline before sending flanker Will Evans in for a try converted by Mallinder. From the restart England countered with another slick move met with little resistance allowing centre John Williams to run in under the posts and leave Mallinder a simple conversion.
It looked as though England had decided to cut loose with exciting back play but when they forced another scrum penalty, the decision was to kick for touch. Then it was just a case of England going through the catch-and-drive drill as their forwards bulldozed their way over for a rumbling try, credited to replacement hooker Jack Singleton, to earn the bonus point.
England replacement Max Malins then stole the show, first with his conversion kick, followed by a penalty and finally by romping through a now wounded Scottish defence to grab a try which he also converted.
Scorers: England Tries J Walker, Evans, Singleton, Williams, Malins Cons Mallinder (3), Malins (2) Pens Mallinder (2), Malins
England under-20 : D Atkins; S Aspland-Robinson (Harlequins), J Marchant, J Williams, M Gallagher; H Mallinder, M Green; T West (Wasps), J Walker (captain), B Walker, S South, H Taylor, G Nott, W Evans, C Chick Replacements J Singleton for J Walker 62, L Boyce for West 40, W Stuart for B Walker 40, A Kitchener for Taylor 63, Z Mercer for Chick 63 H Randall for Green 40, M Malins, for Mallinder 68, O Thorley for Marchant 69
Scotland under-20 : B Robbins; R Nairn, G Taylor, T Galbraith, C Gray; B Kinghorn, H Fraser; D Elkington, J Kerr, C Skeldon, C Hunter-Hill, S Cummings(captain), S Burnside, J Ritchie, A Miller Replacements L Anderson for Kerr 69, G Thornton for Sheldon 58, M McCallum for Elkington 40, A Davidson for Hunter-HIll 40, M Smith for Burnside 40 , C Shiel for Fraser 58, M McPhillips for Taylor 57, R Norville for Nairn 53.
Referee A Brace (Ireland)
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