Scotland Under-20s head coach Sean Lineen is looking for continuity from his team as they look to secure a historic third consecutive home win on the bounce against England at Myreside on Friday night.
There are two changes to the side which showed plenty of promise but ultimately came up short away to Ireland last weekend.
Jack Blain – one the few players in the side with senior pro rugby experience – is ruled out with an ankle injury, meaning that his Heriot’s clubmate Harry Paterson gets a chance on the right wing, and Glasgow Hawks youngster Max Preistly is handed a place on the bench.
Meanwhile, in the front-row, loose-head Thomas Lambert – who has flown across from Australia to be part of Scotland’s Six Nations campaign – is rewarded for his lively showing off the bench last week with a starting berth, meaning Alex Maxwell drops to the bench.
“The boys will automatically be up for it because its England,” said Lineen. “I think there is a massive respect for what they are – the likes of Sam Maunder and Manu Vunipola at half-back who play for Saracens and Exeter – so they know the task, but it is about the collective and making sure that we are tight and stay tight. We know that if we make small errors that you would get away with at club level, that doesn’t happen here – small mistakes become big mistakes.
“We scored four tries in Ireland and had the most tackle-breaks in the whole competition last weekend, so we have some good attackers,” he added. “But we have to look after the ball better. That was a game that was more in our grasp than we thought, so the players are a bit disappointed and frustrated by that, and there is only one way to rectify the situation."
Scotland U20s (v England on Friday, at Myreside, kick-off 7:30pm): Ollie Smith (Ayrshire Bulls); Harry Paterson (Heriot's Rugby), Matthew Currie (Watsonians Rugby), Robbie McCallum (Boroughmuir Bears), Jacob Henry (Southern Knights); Nathan Chamberlain (Hartpury College/Bristol Bears), Roan Frostwick (Watsonians Rugby); Thomas Lambert (Sydney University), Ewan Ashman (Sale Sharks), Mak Wilson (Southern Knights), Kieran Watt (Watsonians Rugby), Cameron Henderson (Stirling County), Jack Hill (Durham University), Connor Boyle (Watsonians Rugby), Rory Darge (Southern Knights)©.
Substitutes: Rory Jackson (Watsonians Rugby), George Breese (Stirling Wolves), Alex Maxwell (Stourbridge), Jamie Campbell (Biggar), Gregor Brown (Boroughmuir Bears), Kyle McGhie (Boroughmuir Bears), Cameron Scott (Boroughmuir Bears), Max Priestly (Glasgow Hawks).
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