Kenny Murray insists the Future XV team playing in the Super Series has been a huge help to his players development but warned them they’ll face a much tougher task when they step up into the U20s Six Nations over the next couple of months.
Murray named his team to face Wales in Colwyn Bay on Friday night and will hope he can get off to a good start with a win against the only team Scotland defeated in last year’s edition of the tournament. The U20s Six Nations has been a difficult hunting ground for Scotland in recent years with that narrow win over Wales last year their only victory since 2020 in the competition.
The 20s head coach has gone for a squad mixed with experience from last year and debutants with Liam McConnell leading the team as captain while Ollie Blyth-Lafferty is in at tighthead despite still being eligible to play at U18 level.
Murray said: “From my perspective, it has been good for the boys. We’re challenging the players to play at a higher level – it is tougher, it is more physical, they are playing against older players.
“But people talk about Super Series being tough, well it isn’t as tough as playing international under-20s level. France under-20s will be tougher than any Super Series team we come up against here.
“We need to close the gap between where we are and where these other nations are, so it has definitely been a positive for me.”
Scotland faced Wales at Scotstoun in a development match in December and were beaten 53-46 in a high scoring game, but Murray was delighted with the run out and believes it can benefit them ahead of Friday night’s match.
He added: “It was a good game. We were in a good position. I think we were 31-14 up and then we made a lot of changes, brought on a lot of players who hadn’t experienced that level, and it was probably just a little bit too many players who hadn’t played that much.”
Scotland U20 team to face Wales: Deans, Young, O Blyth-Lafferty, McVie, Hart, McConnell, Douglas, Currie, Lock, Coates, Caqusau, Yule, Gwynn, Johnston, Watson
Replacements: J Blyth-Lafferty, O’Driscoll, Norrie, Clarke, Job, Morris, Davey, Hocking
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