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U20s 6N: England’s pack power prevails over error-prone Scotland
England U20s 57
Scotland U20s 13
by ALAN LORIMER
IF Scotland were hoping to build on what were good second-half performances against both Italy and Ireland, then perhaps this match at Newcastle’s Kingston Park against the defending world and Six Nations champions was not the best stage to test a perceived improvement .
England, unbeaten now after three rounds and seemingly heading for a back-to-back Under-20 Six Nations Grand Slam, were just far too strong for the Scots. Kenny Murray‘s team rarely had a chance to string together attacking moves, such was the power up front of the home pack, while the English back line had solidity in defence and pace and panache in attack, albeit enjoying an armchair ride in terms of ball delivery.
Scotland were hampered by the late withdrawal of skipper Johnny Ventisei, who had not recovered fully from a knee injury sustained against Ireland and was replaced by Campbell Waugh. The latter’s place on the bench was taken by the Ayr wing Cameron Van Wyk, who, after coming on at half-time, proved to be Scotland’s best attacker.
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Stating the obvious, the problems for Scotland were up front, even though in the set piece the Scots at times achieved parity. But it would be fair to say there were some defensive frailties among the Scotland backs that contributed to the large deficit. The Scots forward pack could rarely match the grinding strength and skilful individual touches of the English eight, most notably those of double try-scorer and man of the match, hooker Kepu Tuipulotu, surely a star of the future.
Head coach Murray, while accepting that England have so many advantages, nevertheless pointed to a number of flaws in his own side. “There were just too many errors and the kick chase was poor. We had a couple of opportunities in both halves but we didn’t capitalise,” said Murray, who went on to note a few positives from the match.
“I thought Freddy Douglas showed quality and was praised by the England coach. To play for 80 minutes after just returning from injury was remarkable. I also thought that Cameron Van Wyk had a few good carries and was strong in defence.
“But they had just too much gas behind the scrum and they have players who are playing in the Top 14, the English Premiership Cup. They’re playing at a higher level”.
As expected, England looked threatening from the off, but on each occasion they entered the Scotland red zone in the opneing minutes, new skipper Douglas produced trademark turnovers. But even Scotland’s ace jackal could not prevent England from opening the scoring as new cap Campbell Ridl, coming off his blindside wing, caused mayhem with his arcing run to cross for an unconverted try.
Commendably, Scotland hit back with pressure on the England line. And after the Scots forwards were unable to bludgeon their way over the line, the ball was whipped back to Matthew Urwin, whose perfectly placed cross kick fell into the welcoming hands of Fergus Watson, giving the former Biggar man an easy run in. Urwin was just wide with his conversion attempt to leave the scores level.
Not for long, however, as England scored from a driven line-out, Tuipulotu claiming the spoils. This time Ben Coen added the conversion for a 12-5 lead.
Scotland were soon under the cosh again, and when Urwin was carded for a dubiously deliberate knock-on, the challenge became much harder. But to their credit, the 14 men were able to grab the next points from a penalty by full-back Jack Brown to cut England’s lead to four points.
The Scots were then made to pay for their numerical reduction as England turned the screw with wave after wave of power play that ended with their experienced No 8 Kane James forcing his way over from close range, Coen converting.
The misery continued, as this time Tuipulotu, after carrying effectively, put in a delicate grubber kick that threw the Scotland defence into chaos and resulted in a try for prop Tye Raymont, converted by Coen. That stretched England’s lead to 26-8, and the bonus point was in the bag with just 33 minutes of the match played.
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England had more bullets to fire before half-time, their powerful play producing a second try for Tuipulotu to give them a commanding 31-8 interval lead.
Although staring down the barrel of a huge defeat, Scotland showed immense character in the opening minutes of the second half, first with a rampaging run by Reuben Logan that was stopped just a metre short of the England line and then an escape down the right touchline by Van Wyk.
But somewhat predictably it was England who struck first in the second half, working a cute line-out move that sent skipper Tom Burrow on an impossible-to-stop 5m charge to the line. From the touchline Coen showed his skill off the tee to land his fourth conversion.
England then took complete command of the game with multiple attacks and from a maul the men in white moved the ball wide ending with full-back George Pearson evading the attempted tackle of Brown to score try No 7, converted this time by replacement stand-off Josh Bellamy.
The talented Bellamy then created a try for wing Jack Bracken to bring up the half century of points.
Fortunately for their morale, Scotland finally found their attacking mojo, ignited by the live-wire sub Van Wyk with a defence-beating run and taken on by Douglas and Brown. Yule then assumed the playmaker role to switch the attack to the opposite side of the field, ending with Oliver Duncan charging over for his second try of the championship
Inevitably England still had time to show their scoring prowess and after a midfield break by Ridl the ball was moved with precision from the final ruck for Angus Hall to notch England’s ninth try, Bellamy’s conversion proving to be the final points of what was a predictably one-sided match.
Teams –
England U20s: G Pearson; J Bracken (T Offiah 60), A Hall, N Lilley, C Ridl; B Coen (J Bellamy 49), L Friday (J Weimann 19); R McEachran (O Scola 49), K Tuipulotu (L Gulley 56), T Raymont (V Sesa 49), O Sodeke (A Ainsworth-Cave 64), T Burrow, J Kpoku, G Timmins (C Treacy 60), K James.
Scotland U20s: J Brown; N Moncrieff (C van Wyk 41), C Waugh (R Wolfenden 61) , K Yule, F Watson; M Urwin, N Cowan (H McArthur 64); J Shearer (O McKenna 45), S Stephen (J Roberts 45), O Blyth-Lafferty (J Stewart 64), B Godsell (C Moss 50), D Halkon, O Duncan, F Douglas, R Logan (B Allen 64).
Referee: Filippo Russo (Italy).
Scorers –
England U20s: Tries: Ridl, Tuipulotu (2), James, Raymont, Burrow, Pearson, Bracken, Hall. Cons: Cohen (4), Bellamy (2).
Scotland U20s: Tries: Watson, Duncan. Pen: Brown.
Scoring sequence (England U20s first): 5-0; 5-5; 10-5; 12-5; 12-8; 17-8; 19-8; 24-8; 26-8; 31-8 (h-t) 36-8; 38-8; 43-8; 45-8; 50-8; 50-13; 55-13; 57-13.
Yellow card –
Scotland U20s: Urwin (22mins).
Attendance: 8,238.
Talking point: A painful match to watch from a Scottish point of view. Scotland simply don’t have the resources and the depth to compete at this level as the under-20s’ record against England reveals only too sharply. It would help if more of the under-20 players were involved at a higher level and playing meaningful rugby. Van Wyk’s entry into the arena proves this point. But without the ethnic mix that England have, Scotland will always struggle. However, history has shown that even although defeats like this are not infrequent, players of international quality do emerge from what is perhaps not the best of systems.
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Does anyone know if there is even the slightest bit of truth to the rumour that the SRU, was or is considering pulling our 20s from the 6 Nations and junior World Cup?
Management of young players is key. The coaches in the SRU academy, u20 and transitions are not up to getting the best out of more than one or two players each age group.
What really baffled me was our desire to play the game at a pace England were comfortable with rather than make the big heavy lads run about
There were some good bits from the Scots boys an a lot of fight, but the scoreline tells the story. We were basically gubbed by a much better team , whose back line slahed though our three-quarter line with consumate ease, while our forwards were under constant pressure and made mistakes, knock-ons, turned over possession etc.
As always, the blame-game starts. It’s the coaches’ fault! It’s the academies! It’s the Pathways system! It’s the lack of regular high-level competitive games! It’s all the SRU’s fault! There may be some truth in all of the above, but the core problem is simpler and deeper: we are choosing our age-grade teams from a hopelessly small pool of school and youth players.
Only 21 state schools out of 300+ are playing regular schools rugby involving one team at each age grade from U13 to U18. That is hopeless the Irish claim to have 150 state schools playing regular rugby.
We rely heavily on 20 private schools to make up the numbers. Ireland can call on over 40 and England hundreds.
Following decades of faffing around and achieving next to nothing on stage schools rugby, the SRU has gone into inertia.
The schools that were playing regular rugby have largely been subsumed into a dozen super-hoover club youth sides, killing off local schools rugby. Many clubs do a great job at producing mini rugby players who often go on to play in school teams. But then the clubs stifle schools rugby by swiping the best players from local schools in order to put out a youth team and the schools cease playing.
The SRU needs to hand-off this super club involvement and stat again at square one. There are several dozen state schools keen to play regular rugby but they do not do so because of lack of resources, lack of encouragement, lack of sustained support by the SRU and the super clubs grabbing of young players.
There is a clear path to encouraging schools rugby but it requires investment, hard work, patience and a long-term strategy from the SRU. None of these elements currently exist in the SRU vision. They are short-termist and hope that big defeats like last night will be blamed on the players, coaches, bad luck, weather or whatever. And we fans and supporters promptly oblige them, by looking for targets to blame.and unworkable theoretical options that we know don’t and won’t work.
Until we grasp the thistle on this issue, we can expect to be the wood3n spoon recipients at age grade and likely relegation from tier 1.
Alas, carrying out the necessary long-term corr3ctive strategy is too slow and far away for us, we keep jumping to the same short-terms answers, none of which will, against the miniscule number of school and youth players the selectors have to choose from, make tuppence worth of difference.
I think you over-exaggerate the potential influence SR can have in Scottish state schools. The reasons that rugby has all but been obliterated in the state sector are many and have been well documented. Schools, now staffed mainly by females, simply don’t have the money, the time or indeed the energy to offer extra curricular activities while for quite a few decades now Physical Education has become mainly a classroom subject. In any case why should schools feel obligated to produce rugby players? If a youngster wanted to play basketball then he/she would join a basketball club. Ditto for rugby. France seem to produce excellent rugby players without having to rely on their secondary schools. Surely it’s better that Scottish Rugby gives its support to its constituent members, the clubs. By making the youth sections of clubs stronger then we have a chance of widening what you describe as the “hopelessly small pool of school and youth players”.
The “ethnic mix” comment is bizarre.
The premise of Super 6 was sound , it was the clubs that blew it by completely prioritising winning over development. Every club was guilty of this so the project was doomed from day 1. If Super 6 had been managed more closely by the SRU it could have ended up being a useful tool however the clubs involved just did what they wanted at the expense of player development. The current Prem is no different with many of these young players being given limited , if any time from the bench as the clubs dont want to dilute what they feel is their strongest matchday XV. Huge step back for player development as we will continue to see in the years to come , it will get worse…
Totally correct. The Super 6 as a concept had some validity. Whether the SRU supported it adequately is another matter but the clubs in it prioritised winning and bragging rights over player development. Hence the raft of ordinary but more developed overseas players brought in which just denied young Scottish players opportunities. When you align that with the woefully inadequate pathways system then how can we expect any different outcomes? There is not one player out there not giving their all but our youngsters have been wholly let down by the SRU.
The Super Six didn’t have clubs it had franchises. As for expecting the SRU at that time to be able to manage anything ……………..
This was a pretty awful performance and if we are being honest it should have been much more. There are players within this group that are not equipped for this level of rugby. There are basics like tackling that should be a given at this stage yet at one point Scotland had missed 25% of their tackles. The defensive structure and decision making was woeful which is a combination of both players and coaches. Three seasons at this level and Yule still looks lost defensively at times..
England looked like a well conditioned outfit . Scotland did not. Again at this stage , conditioning should be a given.
Scotland were hammered behind the gain line on nearly every occasion they had a meaningful spell of possession. They had no clue what to do and had virtually no kicking game…
its unsurprising when you drill down into the levels of rugby many of these players are getting, many are just bit part players to Prem teams and it is no way to develop a player. Scotland had too many soft carriers , indeed their front 5 have similarities with the senior outfit in that there is a distinct lack of nastiness.
Players like Moncrieff and Wolfenden would have been much better served by remaining at their parent clubs ( Gala and Peebles) and having a season or two at Nat 1 rugby. They , and many others were not ready for this level of rugby but have been plucked out and “fast tracked” through a system that is not fit for purpose. How many coaches nowadays would still be in a job after losing 20 odd games , not many…
Kenny Murray has given no U20 team any identity or playing style , content to make excuses like “ we won the second half “ etc. Time has come for a change , not sure what the change would be but there needs to be a different coaching group to at least try and create some type of identity. Is Murray being protected by Townsend because it appears their fates are closely entwined ?
Securing Nucifora should have at least provided a review however whatever form the SRU secured him is undoubtedly going to play second fiddle to his Lions “gig” . He should either have been secured on a basis by the SRU that made a Lions sabbatical not possible or not secured at all. This half in , half out nonsense provides no clarity on his specific role and creates uncertainty around any timeline for any meaningful interventions for the Scottish system.
You really could not dream this up , the SRU are woeful in their decision making and have been for years. There continues to be a jobs for the boys culture where coaches are in positions where there seems to be little scrutiny on performance and progression. Some of these youth coaches are bang average and operating in an environment way beyond their capabilities.
A damn good cleanout is required in every SRU department …
@Bullsman. I could name two coaches in the regional coaching set-up from a few years ago that were completely unsuitable for their roles, their characters alone (huge egos/arrogant) meant that they were unpopular with the boys and parents alike, but they were also untouchable, as no feedback on their performance was ever welcomed or requested (complain and you’d soon be cut). One of them is still firmly in place, the other has been promoted to a senior academy role, which speaks volumes. There are some good coaches in the system, but there are plenty of duds that should have been cleared out years ago.
what level did you play at, anychance it was your schools 2nd 15
Why don’t the academies enter a team into Nat1 for example? They can then control who plays where and for how long.Some lads at the minute are farmed out to clubs and don’t get picked(nor should they) so at least the boys get weekly games.
Can we stop talking about ‘ethnic mix’ of players?
Ireland don’t have it either. They have a really organised schools rugby bubble in Leinster focused purely on producing elite players.
How long before we are replaced in this competition?
Is this the end game for the SRU?
The players and coaches are not to blame.
The SRU gave up our sevens programmes without a debate.
@James I don’t blame the players (they don’t select and coach themselves), but having seen some of the coaches in action, they should have been gone years ago. The jobs for the boys/old school network is absolutely rife.
Same old, same old. Very few of the 20’s boys play any meaningful rugby whilst there are some out there playing club rugby week in and week out and not looked at. Unfortunately for the youngsters I think the age grade rugby in Scotland is just a box ticking exercise for the SRU. You can’t expect boys to go into that environment(over 8000 spectators) and that intensity with no week to week match rugby under their belts and expect them to perform. Lambs to the slaughter.
We can make all the excuses we like but Scotlands utter ineptitude was down to being so poorly coached. The lack of any sort of defensive system was blindingly obvious from my spot in the South stand. Couple this with the crazy number of errors and that’s what you get. Poor kicks poor lineout dropped balls etc killed any attacking momentum. Get rid of the idea that it’s a gig for out of work adult coaches and appoint someone who has the comms and enthusiasm to work with young players..
Not all bad though OBL both hookers the back row Brown Van Wyk have a chance as do Patterson and Ventisei. That’s a reasonable hit rate.
Totally agree with this. Why is everbody so quick to promote Pete Horne to head coach at any of the pro teams. He should be here working his way up.
Well done to Cameron Van Wyk, shame he didn’t get more ball in attack but he came on and showed the rest of our backs what aggressive defence looks like and his work rate on the pitch was second to none; but he didn’t come through our pathway and has to actually fight for his shirt. Regular starter for Ayr. Stood out a mile.
Your comments are spot on we are stripping our clubs of their most promising talent to join a gym bunny system which clearly isn’t working..
The players are just not getting enough game time and look soft compared to their opponents, we have ruined Club Rugby in Scotland to feed a system that is a shambles! And at what cost financially?
I have said it before and I will say it again,big trees have strong roots, and large buildings need strong foundations !
Am I not right in thinking Murray was Glasgow defence coach. Funny that he got moved side ways to this gig. Shocking defence, it’s like it was never coached. An as for the attack it makes my eyes bleed every time I watch it. There are some really good players in the squad, let down so badly by the coaching they get
Player numbers will always make under 20 s more than difficult . At full international we pick any age so the pool of players is huge in comparison . So let’s be fair in our expectations . Firstly the positive in last nights performance – generally the forwards went well with back row competing well . Unfortunately the backs were a defensive disaster so many missed tackles and they ran us ragged at will . Without that score would have been acceptable but probably we would still have lost due to a couple of outstanding England ball carriers eg hooker . Finally I was really encouraged by a number of outstanding individual performances .
Unfortunately our national age grade teams aren’t even competitive against nations who have significantly less player numbers, which our minimum expectation should be. The SRL is an organisation staffed by well paid professionals, at least the senior people are, and when there’s minimal relative improvements over a lengthy period then the suitability of these people needs to be questioned & justified …………………….. well, in an accountable organisation this would be the case!
Got a bit tired of hearing oh this lad plays in the French Prem, this lad has 10 English Prem games under his belt, this lad has played twice already at the top domestic level… it’s clearly the key to growth… so not really sure what people could expect against this massive, quick, flair filled well drilled team, thought a couple of lads stood out but equally a couple didn’t. if they don’t play minutes… they’ll never grow, Edinburgh V Glasgow twice a year is clearly not enough ! London Scottish would be perfect starter for most of these boys, to get stuck into good game time surely… but I guess it’s not going to happen
If only there was a league where these lads could play more competitive games more regularly. Oh wait …
If you mean the Club’s Premier league, how many U20s actually get a start let alone a bench place? Not a lot is the answer, because the Premier teams are more interested in winning and development is a much lesser priority.
Got a bit tired of hearing oh this lad plays in the French Prem, this lad has 10 English Prem games under his belt, this lad has played twice already at the top domestic level… it’s clearly the key to growth… so not really sure what people could expect against this massive, quick, flair filled well drilled team, thought a couple of lads stood out but equally a couple didn’t. if they don’t play minutes… they’ll never grow, Edinburgh V Glasgow twice a year is clearly not enough !
Very poor. Obviously outmuscled, but too many basic errors. Some of the tries were absolutely gifted, gaps were found far too easily due to players simply not being where they should be.
Is that 23 defeats out of 24 now for the u20’s in the Six Nations? Very likely going to be another wooden spoon, yet the coaching set-up remains untouched … it’s a joke frankly.
No different from the senior squad really. Where there appears to be no accountability for failure to improve. The SRU have been and continue to be an utter joke of an organisation. Unfathomable levels of bureacracy but ultimately populated with jobs for the boys and ensuring everyone has everybodys backs. Inevitably there are some successes but the majority of execs both from within or without have been utter failures from a structural administrative and game improvement prrspective despite haemorraghing millions in the process.
Although the boys tried their best it was like watching the England U20 team play Scotland’s U16 team as the gulf in speed, intensity, physicality & shear size was just too great. This is the SRU’s problem to solve, although don’t hold your breath waiting for it to happen. But that said, the conceding of so many stupid & unnecessary penalties is inexcusable & solely down to the players. This ultimately didn’t lose them the game but if improvements can be achieved in this & other multiple areas then the net result will be a considerable uplift in performance (similar to the old Sky pro cycling team’s marginal improvements strategy).
It was obvious to see the Scottish players who were comfortable playing at this level, & those that were completely out of their depth. The question is whether the under-performers have the ability to considerably improve if they receive the right support & experience, or if playing at this level is beyond them & the SRU needs to be searching for alternatives. But as the SRU are normally oblivious & unaccountable for their failings then the status quo will most likely remain.
Bring back Super Six. Get these lads more competitive game time
The run of defeats started at the same time as s6…..its been a massive part of the problem and no amount of revisionism will change that. The nepotism needs to end, the coaching set up needs to the binned, the entire development system needs overhauled, the head of development needs to be full time and at least live in this hemisphere, and the players need game time. None of that will be happening any time soon though. Dodson and his S6 farce still paying its ‘dividends’.
Of course. As the S6 clubs were all playing U20 eligible players…. Or as it turned out we’re more focused on winning the competition than developing future players.
Only if S6 was for say U23 only
Please get these lads playing regular hard competitive rugby in a properly-resourced Premiership league.
The contrived “Academy” hothousing model is failing our young aspiring players and is now pretty much discredited at every turn.
Doesn’t work, the Premier league is not a youth development league and few of these buys would get a start or even a bench seat. Same problem as S6.