Young Scots clinch best finish

Scotland under-20s completed a weekend to remember for Scottish rugby after emulating the seniors by defeating Australia in the final round of the Junior World Cup at the Avchala Stadium, Tbilisi.

The win means that Scotland finished in fifth position, their highest overall placing in the championship and three places above their previous best.

Against a powerful Australia side that boasted a clutch of Super Rugby players, Scotland had to draw on character and resilience after trailing 10-0 as half-time approached. But in a heroic fightback Scotland scored 17 unanswered points to take a 17-10 lead going in the last quarter of the match.

Head coach, John Dalziel, praised his side’s commitment in the tackle. He said: “Defensively we were very strong today. We also played the conditions very well.

“We played into a strong breeze in the first half and then in the second half we dominated through some great kicking by Conor Eastgate.”

Replacement scrum-half Charlie Shiel , whose father Graham was a Scotland standoff/centre, was the hero for the Scots, the Currie supersub scoring shortly after coming off the bench early in the second half and then grabbing an 80th minute try that secured victory for the Scots.

Robbie Nairn scored Scotland’s other try with Eastgate kicking a penalty and three conversions.

In yesterday’s final, New Zealand swept to a 64-17 win over defending champions England for the Baby Blacks to claim their sixth world title.

Scotland: B Kinghorn; R Nairn, R McCann, S McDowall, D Graham; C Eastgate, A Simmers (C Shiel 46); G Thornton (F Bradbury 67), F Renwick, A Nicol, A Craig (H Bain 55), C Hunter-Hill, L Crosbie, M Fagerson, T Dod (B Flockhart 25).

Head coach John Dalziel: praised the defence.