Six Nations joy for U18s gives hope for the future

It has been something of a vintage eight days for the Scotland under-18 rugby squad, who emerged from the inaugural Six Nations Rugby Festival in South Wales with a perfect three from three after memorable wins over England, France and Ireland.

The hope now is that much of this squad could go on and form the basis of a successful under-20 team. Meanwhile, can Scotland replicate this impressive set of performances with next season’s under-18 squad?

An early indication of who will be in the frame for Scotland under-18 selection will become clearer after tomorrow when the final and the third/fourth play-off for the under-17 BT Sports Academy Trophy will be contested on the 3G pitch at Netherdale.

According to Scottish Rugby these fixtures are “an opportunity for players as they compete for selection along with identified players from the Scottish Qualified (SQ) Performance Pathway for the Scotland under-17 Development Squad that will join up with England for a weekend of training and development matches later this month.”

The plan is that the players based in Scotland will have a short break before preparation for the BT Sport Academy U18 Championship in the summer, the start of the BT Sport Academy 2018/19 season.

The matches tomorrow follow on from last week’s under-17 games at Broadwood Stadium where Caledonia were comfortable winners over Glasgow with a 48-14 victory.

In the other match, Borders and East Lothian were 28-0 winners over Edinburgh. Borders and East Lothian scored four tries,.

Tomorrow the final will be between Caledonia and Borders/east Lothian, while Edinburgh and Glasgow will play for third and fourth places.

Elsewhere this week the National Youth Cup under-18 champions Stirling County will face Highland in the semi-final of the Caledonia Cup.