Scotland will be aiming to use the positives they took from the performance against England last weekend in Darlington when they face Ireland in tonight's final round match of the Six Nations under-20 championship at Netherdale.
England, the current junior world champions, are the yardstick and against the men in white Scotland can take much from winning the second half. "We stopped England from scoring after the break and showed great promise in attack, epitomised by the quality of Ben Robbins' try" said the Scotland under-20 had coach, Sean Lineen.
The key to that try was the link provided by flanker Jamie Ritchie. Sadly Ritchie suffered a head knock shortly after his part in Robbins' score and as a result will miss tonight's game. That however gives a chance for Ally Miller to showcase his talents as a promising back row.
Moreso than their performance against England, it is the win over Wales at Netherdale last month that should inspire the Scots. Ireland lost to Wales last Friday and come to the Borders ground desperate to avoid what would be an unprecedented three successive defeats. The Irish, however, had a good win over France compared to Scotland's heavy defeat to the French.
What makes this match more significant is that Scotland and Ireland are drawn together in the same pool for this years Junior World Championship. That is three months away. In the meantime the two sides, along with Wales will be fighting for a third finishing place in the Six Nations, a position Scotland last achieved in 2009.
Scotland under-20 : R Howarth; B Robbins, T Galbraith, P Kelly, A Coombes; R Hutchinson, G Horne; M McCallum, S James, Z Fagerson, S Cummings, L Carmichael, N Irvine-Hess, A Miller, M Bradbury Replacements :R Graham, D Elkington, G Robertson, A Davidson, R Knott, B Vellacott, A Russell, R Galloway
Ireland under-20 : B Dardis; C Gaffney, G Ringrose, S Arnold, S Fitzgerald; R Byrne, N McCarthy; J Loughman, Z McCall, C O'Donnell, D O'Connor, A Thompson, J Murphy, N Timoney, L Dow Replacements A McBurney M Lagan, O Heffernan, J Dwan, S McVeigh, C Young, J Carbery, J Stockdale
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