Lineen reviews historic season for Scotland under-20

Lineen reviews historic season for Scotland under-20

Scotland under-20 enjoyed their most successful season to date with their highest ever finish in the Six Nations and World Rugby Under-20 Championship. Led by Head Coach Sean Lineen and assistants John Dalziel and Iain Monaghan, the team finished third in the 2015 Under-20 Six Nations Championship after putting Wales, Italy and Ireland to the sword in the side’s three home ties.Only an inferior points differential stopped them from climbing above second-place France.Lineen, said: “The Six Nations was very satisfying for us. The way the players came together to get the win against Wales, after losing heavily to France, shows that they learned, and learned well, from their experience.”Going on to win another two games and finish in third place was fantastic for the players, age-grade rugby and for rugby in Scotland.” The squad bounced back from a heavy defeat in their opening game of the Championship against France to record two consecutive home victories against Wales and Italy.Scotland’s victory over Wales was the first since 2009, with the 45-0 demolition of Italy going down in history as the age-grade’s highest winning margin.Despite a fantastic second half in Darlington, Scotland were unable to topple eventual champions England, on their home patch, yet reversed their fortunes, to complete a home clean sweep, with a victory over Ireland in the final game of the tournament.Lineen continued: It was great to see that second game against Wales, and how the boys dug really deep to come back in the second half for a crucial win. That really set us on the road for the rest of the season. “We then managed to back it up with a win against Italy. The best thing about that game was managing to nil them. That was huge for us.”And, although we maybe should have won by a lot more, the victory over Ireland was the real icing on the cake.”They then marched on to the World Rugby Under-20 Championship in Italy, again making history with their highest Championship finish. The Dark Blues were at the receiving end of a heavy defeat from eventual title winners New Zealand in the opening game of the tournament, before succumbing to Ireland four days later.The grit and pride of the Scottish side shone through in the subsequent and final pool match when they powered to a three-try, 29-6 victory over Argentina for the first time in five attempts.The win over Argentina, building on the back of the bonus point gained against Ireland, saw Scotland progress through to the fifth to eighth play-offs, again for the first time since the competition’s inauguration in 2008.However, Scotland were unable to record any further victories going down to Australia and Ireland in two tight encounters.”The World Rugby Championship was tough for us, but the win against Argentina was a real highlight,” Lineen continued.”All credit to the group, it was always going to be difficult, especially with the heat we encountered, but we really stuck in throughout to get ourselves into the upper tier play-offs, which is a position we had never been in before.”Looking back at the Scotland under-20 season, Lineen believes that at the centre of their success was the players’ motivation to learn, along with their positive attitude and a willingness to absorb the core values put in place for the squad.Also, with a big proportion of this year’s group staying eligible for under-20 level next season, he believes the younger players will be major beneficiaries of their experience in this year’s Championship.He continued: “You don’t want players that are just happy to be wearing the shirt.  You want your players to be driven, hungry, willing to improve and to possess a real desire to win.”The great thing about this year’s group was that 14 of the 28-man squad who travelled to the World Rugby Under-20 Championship are a year young and will be back to play at under-20 level next year.”At under-20 level the squad is always transient, but if we can maintain the training standards and live by the core set of values – something the players really bought into – then they’ll continue to develop, and develop well.”Players capped at Scotland under-20 level in 2014/15ForwardsMagnus Bradbury (Edinburgh Rugby)Lewis Carmichael (Melrose)Scott Cummings (Glasgow Warriors/Glasgow Hawks)Andrew Davidson (Glasgow Warriors/Glasgow Hawks)Dan Elkington (Watsonians)Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors)Ross Graham (Hawick)Neil Irvine-Hess (Melrose)Sam James (Bedford Blues)Jake Kerr (Edinburgh Rugby/Watsonians)Ruaridh Knott (Melrose)Murray McCallum (Aberdeen Grammar Rugby)Ally Miller (Edinburgh Rugby/Watsonians)Jack Owlett (Exeter University)Jamie Ritchie (Edinburgh Rugby)Gary Robertson (Gala)Callum Sheldon (Edinburgh Rugby/Watsonians)Matt Smith (Glasgow Warriors/Stirling County)Lewis Wynne (Stirling County) BacksAlec Coombes (London Scottish)Harvey Elms (Currie)Tom Galbraith (Melrose)Richard Galloway (University of Birmingham)George Horne (Glasgow Hawks)Ruairi Howarth (Edinburgh Rugby/Gala)Rory Hutchinson (Northampton Saints)Patrick Kelly (Le Parc)Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh Rugby)Andrew Manson (Stewart’s Melville FP)Robbie Nairn (Harlequins)Ben Robbins (Edinburgh  Rugby/Watsonians)Archie Russell (Stirling County)Ruaraidh Smith (Currie)Ben Vellacott (Gloucester/Hartpury College)Scotland under-20 results in 2014/15Under-20 Six Nations ChampionshipFrance 45 v 6 ScotlandScotland 36 v 34 WalesScotland 45 v 0 ItalyEngland 26 v 11 ScotlandScotland 17 v 10 IrelandWorld Rugby Under-20 ChampionshipScotland 10 v 68 New ZealandScotland 20 v 24 IrelandScotland 29 v 6 ArgentinaScotland 21 v 31 AustraliaScotland 9 v 17 Ireland

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