Scotland may yet benefit from steep learning curve

SCOTLAND U20 31 39

for an excellent score in the corner, but Scotland had the last say of the first half when Trotter intercepted and ran 90 yards to give the Scots a seven-point lead at the break.

Facing a strong wind in the second half, it was vital that the Scots played smart and accurate rugby, but instead they conceded a soft penalty almost straight from the restart which allowed Georgia to kick to the corner, and they then compounded the error when Jamie Hodgson’s loose line-out deflection was seized upon by Tengiz Gigolashvili for an opportunist score.

Abzhandadze slotted the conversion and then kicked a long-range penalty to edge his team into the lead, before replacement loose-head Guram Gogichavili helped himself to Georgia’s fourth try.

Marjanishvili snatched his second and his team’s fifth try of the encounter with 15 minutes to go. Arsen Machaladze was sent to the sinbin for a high tackle and the Scots pulled two tries back through Kyle Rowe and James Miller.