One victory will see Scots make history

Scotland face Wales today in the penultimate round of the Rugby World U-20 Championship in Tbilisi – and they know that at least one win from two matches will give the Scots a highest-ever finish in the global competition.

The Scots are in the fifth to eighth group of countries. Victory would mean Scotland playing the winners of the Australia versus Italy game in Sunday’s final round match to determine the fifth and sixth positions.

Defeat would pitt the Scots against the losers of the Australia-Italy game for the seventh and eighth positions.

The Scots lost 65-34 to Wales in the Six Nations match at Broadwood in February in a bizarre match with an 8-6 try count.

Last month in a warm-up match at Bridgend Scotland narrowed the gap considerably, losing 24-20.

Wales go into this fourth round match on the back of two defeats in their pool, losing 24-17 to Australia and 34-22 to defending champions England before finishing with a bonus point win over Samoa by 54-20.

For today’s match Scotland coach John Dalziel has opted for the same starting line-up that beat Italy 17-16 in the Pool B final game last Thursday.

Dalziel is confident that his charges will have recovered despite the short turnaround period.

“The support staff have been amazing in working with the boys.” he said.

On the bench there are two changes. Boroughmuir prop Daniel Winning provides cover for the impressive Stirling and former Dunfermline tighthead Adam Nicol and Lewis Berg returns to the squad after starting against New Zealand in the first round match.

At the top end of the championship England play South Africa and New Zealand face France in the two cup semifinals.

U20s coach John Dalziel.