The cyclical nature of age-grade sport means that it is always very difficult to predict how well Scotland Under-20s will fare from one season to the next, but there is little doubt that the SRU’s academy programme and overseas recruitment network has been successfully refined to give youngsters a far better chance of realising their potential than just a few short years ago when the team was regularly on the receiving end of 60 or 70 point drubbings.
There are still the odd aberrations – as was the case last year when France racked up a 19-69 win at Broadwood – but the fact the team bounced back from that calamity to secure a famous win over England just a fortnight later points to a level of resilience which had previously been conspicuous by its absence.
Former Gloucester and Worcester Warriors head coach Carl Hogg is in charge of the team this year and having been in the role since October he has had an unprecedented amount of time to identify and start preparing his players, and their preparation has included training regularly with Scotland senior team during the November Test window. The Under-20s lost narrowly to the Scotland Club XV in their final training match at Oriam on Tuesday night but were competitive throughout, despite having several leading players missing.
Hogg named his 32-man squad for the championship on Thursday afternoon, with nine players returning from last season.
Props Murphy Walker, Euan McLaren and Sam Grahamslaw, hooker Finlay Scott and second-rows in Ewan Johnson and Charlie Jupp are among those involved for a second time, which should mean the team are at least able to front-up at set-piece time – although they would look even more formidable in the tight-five if Marshall Sykes wasn’t out with a knee injury.
Flanker Connor Boyle played this level last year despite being Under-18 at the time and he is a class act, but the equally impressive Rory Darge is missing (also due to an injured knee).
Behind the scrum, there is a bit less experience, although stand-off Ross Thompson will hope to recapture the form which made him one of the finds of last season. Wingers Rufus McLean and Jack Blain could be dynamite if they are given a chance to attack with the ball in hand.
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