Scotland Start Festival With A Win

Scotland’s under-18 team got off to a winning start in the U18 Six Nations Festival by defeating France 10-8 at the Cork Institute of Technology. Musselburgh loosehead-prop Craig Owenson scored the Scots’ try. Their next match in the festival is against their Irish counterparts on Saturday.Scotland’s under-18 team got off to a winning start in the U18 Six Nations Festival by defeating France 10-8 at the Cork Institute of Technology. Prop Craig Owenson scored a try from close range just before half-time to hand Grant McKelvey’s side the lead with stand-off Alex Blair adding the extras. After the break, Blair then extended Scotland’s advantage with a well-taken penalty before France responded through a try from Kevin LeGuen and a penalty from Amany Geneste. But Scotland clung on to secure a productive start; much to the delight of assistant coach Graham Marshall. Marshall said: We were pleased with our first half performance though we didn’t convert as many chances as we had. However we were disappointed with the second half because we made a lot of mistakes and let France right back into it. Scotland: Sam Hughes (Merchiston Castle School), Max Learmonth (Berwick), Michael Tait* (Kelso Quins), Alec Dunbar (Annan), Jamie Harris (Merchiston Castle School), Alex Blair (Edinburgh Academy), Russell Weir (Merchiston Castle School), Craig Owenson* (Musselburgh), Mungo Strachan (Fettes College), Andrew Fraser (York), Grant Gilchrist (Stirling County), Robert Harley* (West of Scotland), ), Stuart McInally* (George Watsons College) (captain), Ross Sutherland (Sandbach), Jason Hill (Stirling County) Replacements: Alex Black (for Weir 40), Luke Pettie* (for Fraser 53), Michael Maltman (for Hill 61), Callum O’ Connor (for Gilchrist 66).