Lineen discusses his squad ahead of U20 Ireland fixture

Lineen discusses his squad ahead of U20 Ireland fixture

​Scotland’s U20 side travel to Cork on Thursday (31 January) for a 2020 Six Nations Friday night fixture against last year’s winners, Ireland.

2019 was a tough year for Scotland’s young charges, finishing bottom of the Six Nations and suffering relegation from the Junior World Cup.

This season a new coaching team sees Head Coach Sean Lineen take charge, alongside former Scotland Women’s Head Coach, Shade Munro, as both look to push the country’s next hopefuls to the next level.

Ahead of the opening game, Lineen spoke to the media about his selected side for the encounter at Independent Park.

On the challenge of Ireland

“Always in the first game of a tournament you play, especially against an Irish team where they come through the likes of Leinster Academy and they’ve all played to a certain level, you want to get off on the right foot; we know we’re in for physical battle from our opponents.

I’m confident with this group of players, having watched them train and having brought them together to form a tight group and I’m expecting big things from them.

We have huge respect for Ireland, who were Grand Slam champions last year in the U20 Six Nations. They’re always tough and that will give us a really good measure of where we are at.

These guys [in the Scotland squad] have won games for the U18 side in recent years, they’ve beaten Ireland, they’ve beaten England and they’ve beaten France. These players know how to work. I think it’s really important we put that across to them, the expectations are high.

It’s all about being really competitive, it’s all about them putting their best foot forward in every game – I want these guys to be professionals.

We want to make sure we hit the ground running as it’s a big year for us. We’ve got the Junior World Trophy down the line, but that’s a separate entity just now as it’s not until September. For now, it’s all about winning games.

Our job with the U20 is to see how many guys we can get through to that next level to produce the Jamie Ritchies, Matt Fagersons, Blair Kinghorns and Darcy Grahams of this world.”

On the squad and captaincy

“Rory Darge is going to lead us this year as captain. He’s an impressive young man, and been a bit unlucky with a few injuries in the past, so for him to come through that shows a bit of adversity, the way he’s been playing and training has been good and he’s held in pretty high regard with everyone in the squad, so it’s a really good opportunity for him.

Rory’s got a pretty good support group around him: you’ve got Roan Frostwick, Robbie McCallum and Ollie Smith at the back, those guys have all been there before.

It’ll be good to see him and Connor Boyle together, we have a pretty good back-row between Connor and Jack Hill.

Last season’s captain, Connor, did a good job, he is a really determined and dedicated man and I think it’s an opportunity for him to concentrate on his own game and still be a leader, support Rory, but make sure he gets his own game right.

Hooker Ewan Ashman, who is back at Sale Sharks and has played academy rugby, spent some time with Edinburgh. It was a good opportunity for him to come up and for Richard Cockerill to have a look at him and put him through his paces.

Nathan Chamberlain is another guy I’ve been really impressed with. He was on the fringes last year but has lots of potential.

On the wings, we’ve got Jacob Henry and Jack Blain. Jacob’s just come back from injury as well so he hasn’t played that much rugby to date, but he’s an exciting talent who was on the Macphail scholarship last year in South Africa.

17 of the 23 are FOSROC academy guys, so it’s good that a number with them have played in the FOSROC Super6. Some are coming back from injury, but all in all it’s a really talented group of players and I’m looking forward to seeing them come through the programme.

We’ve got 12 players back from last year. For these lads there’s a lot of pride at stake, obviously now with us being in the Junior World Trophy.”


On the back-room staff

“We’ve got a new team, a new coaching group, new focus and a new game plan.

I know the staff really well, we’re very open, very approachable. Our job’s to make the players better and make sure they love the game.

For us, It’s about putting a bit of pressure on the squad, and they’re putting pressure on themselves to be fair. These guys want to do really well, to impress and show their professionalism in the way they’re turning up, how they’re talking, how they’re presenting themselves.

Shade Munro, my assistant coach and an old friend, is really knowledgeable, really committed and he wants to do well with this group too.

We like to think we’re bringing new ideas through, we have to evolve as we can’t keep doing what we’ve done in the past. The squad will challenge us if we don’t keep developing.”

On Injuries

‘Dan Gamble will unfortunately miss out as picked up an injury earlier in the season, that looks like it might keep him out for a while so that’s a real shame for him. We’ve got George Breese as cover and he will get an opportunity to step up.’

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