Report: Scotland U18 15-34 Wales U18

A misfire at the lineout from Scotland gave Wales their first try, as they stole the ball deep in Scotland’s 22 and went from left to right where Ryley Fussell went over in the corner. (0-5, 8 mins)

Scotland then threatened in the wide channels several times without being able to find the killer moment, but that came in the 21^st minute from full-back Alexander Sneddon. A whipped pass out to the left from Finlay Anderson created a two-on-two, and Sneddon rounded his man and dummied to keep the other away from him before dotting down. (5-5, 21 mins)

But Wales came straight back and found space out wide of their own, breaking down the right before passing inside where Dylan Quin went over untouched. Will Ford converted. (5-12, 25 mins)

And Wales got a third on the half hour mark. Quin made the initial break up the right, and two phases later a scrambling Scotland defence left Wales with an overlap on the left where Sam Morgan went over. (5-17, 30 mins)

Half time: Scotland U18 5-17 Wales U18

Wales got their fourth straight after half-time. Scotland’s back three retreated to try and keep a kick in play, but the ball went loose and Quin gathered to score on the left. Ford converted. (5-24, 37 mins)

Scotland then immediately replied. Captain Angus Robson burst through the middle and was hauled down a metre short, and from there the forwards finished it off with Rowan Walsh, who was destructive all day with his ball carrying, making the telling inches. (10-24, 39 mins)

Again there was an immediate response, this time from Wales as they got the ball back from kick off and then won a penalty in the 22 in front of the posts, which Ford kicked over. (10-27, 41 mins)

The action went straight down the other end once more and Scotland soon had a third, the rapid Ben McDonald rewarded having shown his pace earlier, this time bursting down the left to reach the line. (15-27, 43 mins)

Though Scotland were camped in Wales’22 for much of the next 15 minutes, they could not take advantage and find the score, and with less than three minutes left Morgan intercepted a pass on halfway and cantered over untouched to seal the win. Ford converted. (15-34, 68 mins)

Full time: Scotland U18 15-34 Wales U18

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Head Coach Ross Miller said: “Wales probably lived off of our errors, they won the breakdown battle and that intercept at the end was a sucker-punch.

“We want to move the ball into space and we’ve got some dangerous runners, but the learning is that a line break isn’t automatically a try at this level and you’ve got to work to finish it off.

“Game management is probably starting to come into it more for these guys, they’re under more pressure than they will have been before, but also we want to see them try things and make good decisions when they can.

“The purpose of the programme is to expose our best players to this level of rugby and hopefully move them on to the next stage. We’ve got three U17s in this group which is really positive.

“There was definitely some guys who did really well. Rory Baxter was very good, that’s his first full game back in a year, Jack Nesbitt was the same, I thought Alexander Sneddon was lively before he came off.”

Scotland U18: 15. Alexander Sneddon 14. Ben McDonald 13. Charlie Robbie 12. Finlay Anderson 11. Rhuari Hill 10. Angus Robson CAPTAIN 9. Coel Pettet 1. William Geary 2. Jack Nesbitt 3. Zak Burgess 4. James Dalrymple 5. Daniel Shellard 6. Rory Baxter 7. Angus Abel 8. Rowan Walsh

Replacements: 16. James Roberts 17. Michael Scarth 18. Archie Smellie 19. Oliver Richardson 20. Hamish Mather 21. Bradley Bohmer 22. Oliver McKenzie 23. Lochlan Glackin 24. Murray Waugh 25. Ruaridh Law 26. Samuela Lawaci

Wales U18: 15. Sam Morgan 14. Ryley Fussell 13. Will Adams 12. Owen Lewis 11. Dylan Quin 10. Will Ford 9. Alfie Lugar 1. Brayan Kamanga 2. Tiaan Hall 3. Isaac Jones 4. William Carroll 5. Harri Lewis 6. Rhys Owen 7. Alfie Prygodzicz 8. Moses Tuliakiono

Replacements: 16. Cole Lacey 17. Logan Goodluck 18. Sam Bryant 19. Harvey Thomas 20. Jac Cloke 21. George Thomas 22. Madoc Evans 23. Harvey Bryant 24. Jac Williams 25. Harry Kinsey 26. Will Watkins