SCOTLAND will kick off their World Rugby U20 Trophy in Nairobi, Kenya, against Zimbabwe on Saturday 15th July (kick-off at 8am BST), then play their remaining pool matches against Canada to USA on Thursday 20th July (2pm BST) and Uruguay on Tuesday 25th July (5pm BST).
If they finish top of that pool, they will take on the winner of Pool B featuring Spain, Samoa, Kenya and Hong Kong for the title, which would secure promotion back to the top tier Championship competition in 2024.
Scotland were relegated from the Championship after finishing 12th out of 12 teams at the Argentina tournament in 2019 (when Ollie Smith, Ross Thompson, Ewan Ashman and Murphy Walker were among the squad members), and have not had a chance to fight for promotion since then due to three consecutive Covid cancellations.
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Scotland U20 head coach Kenny Murray will name his 28-man squad for the tournament in early June. The age-grade side had a mixed-bag Six Nations, pushing England close before going down 41-36 at Twickenham Stoop in round one, securing a morale-boosting first win in 15 matches against Wales [18-17] at Scotstoun in round two, then suffering heavy defeats away to France [54-12], against Ireland at home [an eye-watering 7-82], and against Italy at him [17-40] in their final match of the campaign.
Scotland’s World Rugby U20 Trophy Fixtures –
- Saturday 15 July: Scotland v Zimbabwe @ 10am (8am BST)
- Thursday 20 July: Scotland v Canada/USA @ 4pm (2pm BST)
- Tuesday 25 July: Scotland v Uruguay @ 7pm (5pm BST)
Play-offs on Sunday 30th July –
- Group A 4th v Group B 4th @ 10am (8am BST)
- Group A 3rd v Group B 3rd @ 1pm (11am BST)
- Group A 2nd v Group B 2nd @ 4pm (2pm BST)
- Group A 1st v Group B 1st @ 7pm (5pm BST)
Super Series Sprint final: Ayrshire Bulls and Heriot’s ready for Millbrae shoot-out
The coaches of the U20 squad need to have players ready to play at this level. At the moment this is not the case, with a few exceptions.
The nub of this is our talented young players need to be playing at the right competitive level, they also need to be ”on task”, in the gym, improving their skills development, nutrition, and embracing sports psychology.
Currently, this is not the case for most of them, and we can see why we are playing at this level at the moment
Playing “amateur” club rugby in Scotland at the premiership or nat 1 level does not provide a competitive environment for our young players. Get them into a higher level like Super Series rugby, and expose them to the rigors of international level rugby.
For the avoidance of doubt, success or failure in this 2nd tier competition will offer a glimpse into Scottish international rugby’s future at senior level (give or take the impact of a few “project players” and SQ finds from wherever).
A heavy burden for KM and his squad, who should go to Kenya with all our good wishes.
In the article you have June rather than July. If it was June a certain player (or two) may not be fit in time. C’mon Scotland!
Good point. Corrected now. It’s been a long season!
Spain just confirmed a warmup next June 24th:
https://ferugby.es/ya-a-la-venta-las-entradas-del-prometedor-espana-m20-escocia-m20-que-se-jugara-en-zamora
They are coached by former Jaguares head coach ‘Aspirina’ Pérez and play in the other JWRT pool, so potential final rivals.