New blood for Scottish Rugby Academy as 11 old boys graduate to professional status
After a mere 112 years, Scotland are finally on a roll against New Zealand and the Under-20s get the opportunity next Wednesday to keep it going in their World Rugby Under-20 Championship opener in Georgia.
The national sevens side’s victory over the All Blacks in the quarter-final of their thrilling defence of the London title at Twickenham on Sunday was the first time a Scottish team had beaten the Kiwi superpowers at any level of the game and the Baby Blacks provide the testing opposition for the youngsters’ Pool B opener in Kutaisi.
John Dalziel’s squad have been placed in a difficult group which also includes Ireland and Italy but head for eastern Europe hopeful of bettering their best-ever eighth-place finish in a junior World Cup.
“We’re hungry and we’re up for it, really up for it,” said Under-20 skipper Callum Hunter-hill. “We can take confidence from beating Australia last year, but we take confidence from everything we do. Most training sessions are good. We are up for it and confident.”
The 20-year-old Stirling County lock forward, who joins Edinburgh on a professional deal next season, will lead a fairly raw squad into the tournament.
Age-grade sides tend to go in cycles and last year’s team, which notched that historic opening win over the junior Wallabies in Manchester before injuries took their toll in what is a notoriously gruelling summer campaign, boasted far more players with previous experience of the event.
Five games in three weeks in temperatures expected to rise to the 30s will test the young 28-man squad to its limit “It was gruelling enough in Manchester last year, so even for the guys who played then it will be a big test to play in heat – 34, 35 degrees out there,” said Hunter-hill. “It will really take a toll getting into the fourth and fifth games. It will be tough.”
After recording an impressive three wins in the 2016 junior Six Nations, the Under-20s dropped back to just one this year, including a 20-19 loss at home to their second pool opponents next month Ireland and a hugely disappointing 65-34 hammering at home to Wales.
“We were a bit disappointed with our Six Nations performances,” admitted Hunterhill, who grew up in Gullane and was educated at North Berwick High School and Stewart’s Melville.
“There were a few games there where we could have got much better results – Ireland definitely. We’ve got them in the World Cup, so we want to right a few wrongs there.
“We had a good game against Italy, a good performance, so we can take a lot into the World Cup.”
That Wales hiding still stings, admitted the second row. “It was a big wake-up call,” he said. “We needed it, that kick up the backside to show us where we actually are and what we need to be doing to compete at a really high level.” The SRU has confirmed the latest intake to the BT Sport Scottish Rugby Academy system after 11 graduates earned professional deals for next season.
Edinburgh’s six recruits are Hugh Fraser, Tom Galbraith, Darcy Graham, Callum Hunter-hill, Murray Mccallum and Ally Miller, while Glasgow Warriors have signed Jamie Bhatti, George Horne, Patrick Kelly, Matt Smith and Lewis Wynne.
Their promotion to the pro ranks has created space for this season’s new intake, with nine players promoted from stage two and eight new faces entering the Academy system.hamiltonburr,archie Erskine, Stafford Mcdowell, Robbie Nairn, Adam Nicol, Grant Stewart, George Stokes and Sam Yawayawa are the new additions.
Those promoted from stage two are Hamish Bain, Kaleem Barreto, Ross Dunbar, Josh Henderson, Euan Mclaren, Gary Munro, Fraser Renwick, Robbie Smith and Jamie Ure.
Head of academy and performance programmes, Stephen Gemmell, said: “It’s great to see so many of our talented young players be rewarded with professional contracts in Scotland and graduate from our BT Sport Academy system.
“The latest intake of players demonstrates our continued investment in the next generation, an increased input from the pro teams in their selection and our commitment to future-proof our game in Scotland.”
Gemmell added: “The opportunities and impact that our top end players are having in professional matches, demonstrates how well the academies, alongside their club and school programmes, are preparing players.”