FORMER Edinburgh forwards coach Stevie Scott will take charge of the Scotland Under-20 team this season, with former Scotland wing and Hawick head coach Nikki Walker assisting as attack coach and former Boroughmuir number eight Ben Fisher taking charge of defence.
“I’m delighted to have been given the opportunity to lead a talented Scotland U20 side and I’m excited to work alongside two of Scottish rugby’s most promising young coaches in Nikki Walker and Ben Fisher,” said Scott.
“We’ve already had two productive training days with the squad and the boys have looked really sharp. We’re now fully focused on preparing for the first game of next year’s Six Nations in Wales.”
Scott is a former hooker who played 11 times for Scotland between 2000 and 2004. His coaching career began in 2006 with Borders side Selkirk, before he spent three years as a coach with Scottish Rugby’s national academy. He was promoted to a specialist coaching role with the Scotland national team from 2008 to 2010.
He had a spell as forwards coach with Sale Sharks in the Aviva Premiership between 2010 and 2013, before returning to the national set-up as an assistant coach to interim head coach Scott Johnson for the 2013 RBS 6 Nations.
Following a four-month period as Edinburgh Rugby’s interim head-coach at the end of the 2012-13 season, Scott was appointed as the capital club’s forwards coach that summer, where he remained until his departure after the arrival of Richard Cockerill at the end of the 2016-17 season. During that period, Edinburgh finished eighth, eighth, ninth and ninth in the Guinness PRO12.
Fellow borderer Walker was capped 24 times on the wing between 2002 and 2011. He had three difficult seasons as head coach at Hawick, before stepping down at the end of last season after leading the team to a vital victory over Edinburgh Accies in a relegation play-off at Lasswade.
A recipient of the Macphail scholarship in 2012, New Zealand-born Fisher has coached Scotland age-grade sides at Under-16, Under-17 and Under-18 levels, and worked as an assistant coach to John Dalziel during last year’s Under-20 campaign.
“We’re delighted to announce the Scotland U20 coaching team. Stevie Scott brings a wealth of experience to role of head coach. Ben Fisher has impressed mightily during the last two seasons, whilst Nikki Walker will bring his own brand of energy and innovation. Under their tutelage, we’ll look to build on the work of the last few seasons,” said Sean Lineen, the SRU’s head of national age-grade rugby.
After a frustrating Six Nations campaign in which they managed just one win over Italy in their final match, the national Under-20 team went on to achieve a best ever fifth place finish in last summer’s Junior World Cup in Georgia, scoring victories over Ireland, Italy, Wales and Australia.
The side will play two home fixtures during the up-coming Six Nations, against France at Cumbernauld’s Broadwood Stadium on Friday 9th February (kick-off 7.45pm) and England at Myreside on Friday 23rd February (kick-off 7.30pm).