Scotland may have lost the Six Nations under-20 match against England last night at the Northern Echo Arena but the Scots can take credit from a second half performance that suggested the gap between the two countries is narrowing.
"I'm very proud of their second half performance. The team gave everything and never gave up and we scored the only points of the second half. Perhaps we gave them too much respect in the first half" said Scotland under-20 head coach, Sean Lineen.
England, the current Junior World Champions and fielding seven of the side that triumphed in New Zealand last June were expected to be too strong for what is a young Scotland side and confirmed this prediction early in the game with powerful forward play good handling skills resulting in tries for scrum half James Mitchell, prop Paul Hill and number 8 James Chisholm and three penalties and a conversion from Bath stand-off Rory Jennings.
But in the second half it was Scotland who took control of the game with dynamic forward play and effective ball carrying from number 8 Magnus Bradbury.
The Scots' pressure finally paid off after a surge from the line-out by replacement hooker Ross Graham that splintered the England defence allowing Hutchinson to take the attack to the right. The ball was then shipped via skipper Jamie Ritchie and full back Ruairi Howarth to winger Ben Robbins to give the former New Year Sprint winner his second try of the championship.
Scotland came close to scoring on three further occasions but lacked the accuracy and power to exploit attacking positions close to the England line. But having stopped England from scoring in the second half the Scots can take much from this match ahead of their game next week against Ireland at Netherdale.
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