U20s make three changes to counter Ireland threat
Scotland’s under-20 side have to pick themselves up and dust themselves down after losing their opening match against Italy because they have no time to feel sorry for themselves with Ireland due at Netherdale tomorrow evening.
The Irish juniors went one better than the full international team in beating the England U20s last weekend and coach Carl Hogg has made three changes to his starting XV to counter the green threat.
Jed-forest hooker Finlay Scott dislocated his shoulder against Italy and misses the rest of this tournament. He is replaced by Sale Sharks’ Ewan Ashman, which leaves the Borders without representation in this squad.
The others two changes are by choice with Hogg aping the senior squad by shuffling Charlie Jupp, a lock against Italy, into the back row for the Ireland showdown. Stirling County’s Cameron Henderson comes in to partner Ewan Johnson at lock.
“It was about looking to get people some opportunities,” said Hogg. “Looking at the balance in the back five of the scrum, we’ve got some good athletes in there. We’ve got Ewan Johnson, who is a really good tight-five forward, so it is about utilising Charlie Jupp and Cammy Henderson. I see Connor Boyle as an out-andout seven, and Kwagga Van Niekirk gives us that power, so I think it just gives us a bit more balance in the back-row.
“He’s probably a modern-day hybrid who can play both second-row and No 6,” said Hogg when asked about the versatile Jupp. “He’s got a huge work ethic, he’s got good detail and he gives lots of energy to the group, so I think he’ll add value.”
The only other change to the side is at full-back where the electric Rufus Mclean takes over from Ayr’s Ollie Smith who suffered a bang to his calf and wasn’t able to train.
Ireland age-grade teams are usually strong given the overwhelming emphasis they place on schools rugby in the republic and this one promises to be no different. After trailing at the break they fought back against England, with two tries from hooker Dylan Tierney-martin and a late touchdown from replacement Cormac Foley, to snatch a late 35-27 win in front of a bumper 5,764 crowd at Cork’s Irish Independent Park. Following his heroics Foley starts at scrum-half tomorrow evening alongside flanker Scott Penny who has already four starts for Leinster and two tries to his credit this season in the Guinness Pro14, which isn’t too shabby for a teenager. Stand-off Harry Byrne is the brother of Leinster No 10 Ross and also highly rated. Not surprisingly Hogg is expecting the young Irish to perform very much like the senior Ireland side.
“When you look at the [Ire- land] U20s, you will see a carbon copy of their Test team, they’ve got very similar traits and that clearly comes through their youth system.
“They’ve got threats over the ball defensively, all the time from one to fifteen, which is pretty unique for teams. They’ve got high line-speed, but that does offer opportunities, and I think the English Test team exploited that particularly well last Saturday, so that’s clearly an area we have identified and an area we are looking to challenge.
“They like to stay nice and compressed defensively and challengeyouroundthebreakdown. So, they’ve got a very intense, suffocating defence and they’ve got really good basic skills. We watched their game on Friday night and they look a very competent side, so we’ll have to be at our best to challenge them on Friday.
“But I think there is huge room for improvement for us. You’re never quite sure how much information and how many behaviours from training hold going into a match, but we’ve clearly identified things we can work on and things we can do better, and we’re looking forward to putting that into practice.”