Heat, Hamilton and Handy Hit-out; the Scotland U20 Men prep block

Environmental Chamber at UWS

With temperatures currently over 30 degrees at the team’s base in Mirano and expected to stay that way throughout the championship, the squad visited the environmental chamber at the University of West of Scotland during preparations. In smaller groups, the squad were put through their paces on watt bikes in the heated chamber in order to prepare them mentally and physically for playing in the soaring Italian temperatures.

U20 Sports Science Lead Ella Kay explained: “This is our second time using the environmental chamber at UWS, we previously used it two years ago to simulate altitude but this time around we have used it to simulate the temperatures we will be experiencing in northern Italy.

“The players completed multiple challenging bike sessions in the chambers, set at around 35-degree heat, which allowed us to seek an additional stimulus on top of our rugby training. The team really enjoyed the sessions, doing something different to usual, whilst pushing themselves physically and mentally.

“Thank you to Jack, Molly and the rest of the team at UWS for all their help with our preparation for the upcoming championship.”

Oliver Finlayson-Russell in the environmental chamber at UWS.

Hamilton RFC

While also using Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility, and the National Sports Training Centre in Largs for a weekend camp, Scotland U20 also trained at Hamilton RFC regularly during the preparation block. This allowed the team to train on grass and was quickly accessible from Ravenscraig, where morning sessions still took place.

Being able to train on grass made the sessions similar to the pitches the team will play on Italy. The three pool stage games will take place at Payanini Center, Verona (against England on Sunday 29 June), Stadio Luigi Zaffanella, Viadana (against Australia on Friday 4 July) and Stadio San Michele, Calvisano (against South Africa on Wednesday 9 July) which are all grass pitches.

Friendly against Ireland U20

On Friday 13 June, 28 players travelled over to Kingspan Stadium, Belfast, to take on Ireland U20 in Scotland’s only warm-up fixture for the tournament.

A scintillating second-half attacking performance including six tries saw Scotland win 48-29 over their Irish counterparts.

Full-back Jack Brown grabbed himself a hat-trick, while back-row Reuben Logan scored two tries of his own, his first in Scotland colours.

You can read our full match report from the game HERE.