Youngs Scots offer up plenty to shout about 22 29
A THRILLING match at Netherdale ultimately ended in disappointment for the plucky Scots, but they should draw significant encouragement from the way they went toe-totoe against one of the dominant nations in Under-20s rugby in recent years to pick up a welldeserved losing bonus point.
In fact, for the first 40 minutes, the young Scots were the dominant force in this game, and for the next 20 minutes they managed to hang in there within range of a first ever win over France at this age level – but a score from visiting second-row Gauthier Maravat in the 66th minute eventually took the game out of reach.
Even then, the home team wouldn’t give up the ghost and rallied to score their third try through prolific hooker Ewan Ashman with six minutes to go, which set up a tense finale in which the Scots throw the kitchen sink at glory, but they ultimately came up agonisingly short.
“They were better than us,” conceded beaten head coach Sean Lineen. “They were more powerful than us and squeezed us in that third quarter. We weren’t used to the line-speed and it was a real challenge to our skills, but I am just so proud of them in terms of never giving up and fighting right to the end.”
After a lively start, Scotland drew first blood through a 17th minute Nathan Chamberlain offside penalty from in front of the posts, but France bounced back to take a 3-10 lead thanks to a try from captain Jordan Joseph plus a conversion and a penalty from Joris Moura.
The Scots struck next with a well-workled try from winger Rufus McLean which involved some excellent contributions during the build-up from secondrow Cameron Henderson, No 8 and captain Rory Darge, standoff Chamberlain and full-back Ollie Smith.
Chamberlain nailed the touchline conversion to square it, only for France to strike right back again when Erwan Dridi shrugged off three tackles on his way to the line, but the Scots wouldn’t lie down and they were soon back on level pegging again when Roan Frostwick sent Jacob Henry over off the back a powerful line-out drive.
Scotland ended the half where they had spent most of the previous 40 minutes, camped in French territory, after a powerful midfield burst from Connor Boyle, but it was a different story after the break as France cranked it up a gear during the third quarter.
The visitors snatched the lead for the third time when stand-off Thibault Debaes picked out right winger Nethaneal Hulleu with an inchperfect kick in behind, and as the pressure continued to build the number of handling errors made and penalties conceded began to rack up, until the dam eventually burst when Scotland’s scrum – which has been such an important part of their game in this championship – was totally overwhelmed, allowing Maravat picked up and dived over unchallenged.
To their enormous credit, the Scots picked themselves up for one last shot at glory, and Ashman’s try got them within range – but it wasn’t to be.