Scotland U20 Targeting Back-To-Back Wins

Scotland under-20 team manager John Jeffrey admits the mood in the camp is buoyant ahead of the play-off match against Canada at Rodney Parade on Wednesday (18 June, kick off 5pm) with the team chasing back-to-back victories.Scotland under-20 team manager John Jeffrey admits the mood in the camp is buoyant ahead of the play-off match against Canada at Rodney Parade on Wednesday (18 June, kick off 5pm) with the team chasing back-to-back victories. Despite enduring a heavy defeat against South Africa last week, Scotland responded magnificently with a six-try win over the USA on Saturday – the team’s first victory of 2008. As a result, Jeffrey believes the players can carry that momentum onto the next North American challenge against Canada. Jeffrey said: We are targeting back-to-back victories which we have never achieved before and the boys are in a determined mood. We have looked at Canada and they are a very useful team; they must be to have managed to beat Fiji. They have got a couple of players who have played for the senior team, so they are certainly a decent side. If you look at our 6 Nations campaign this year, there were a couple of matches that we could have and perhaps should have won, but we didn’t manage to do it. So the win over the USA has done wonders for the boys’ confidence because they needed to get a victory under their belt. We can now take that confidence forward onto our next game against Canada. The collective response shown by the players in the aftermath really impressed Jeffrey and the former Grand Slam winner praised their resilience. He added: We took both a physical and mental beating against South Africa. But the most pleasing aspect for the boys was that, despite the scoreline, they really got stuck in during that match. There is definitely a lot of resilience in the squad and that was shown in the way the players responded to the South Africa result by scoring six tries against the USA just a few days later. On the injury front, flanker Steven Burton, who had been an ever present throughout the tournament so far, has been ruled out of the match with an elbow problem. As a result, Jonny Baird comes in to fill the vacant number six jersey in the only change to the team that ran in six tries against the USA. Head coach Colin Robertson revealed his pre-match message to the players: carry on from where you left off against the USA. Robertson was hugely impressed with the way the players stuck to the original gameplan and attacked with real gusto. Robertson said: The lads want to push on towards achieving their goals and have trained with real purpose. We have done our homework on Canada and set out a thorough gameplan and if the players can replicate what they managed against the USA then we can look forward to another enjoyable performance. Make no mistake; Canada are an organised team with some good players – they defeated Fiji which is no mean feat. But the confidence is growing in our team and now we have won the players will be looking for that to continue. Scotland under-20 squad (team sponsor Martin Currie) for the IRB Junior World Championship match against Canada at Rodney Parade, Newport (18 June 2008, kick off 5pm). 15 Peter Horne (Howe of Fife) 14 Lee Jones (Selkirk) 13 Paul Loudon (Durham University) 12 Stevie McColl (Dunfermline and National Academy) 11 Chris Kinloch (Edinburgh Academicals and National Academy) 10 Ruaridh Jackson (Glasgow Hawks and National Academy) CAPTAIN 9 Peter Jericevich (GHA and National Academy) 1 Gary Strain (Glasgow Hawks and National Academy) 2 Adrian Duncan (Stewarts-Melville FP and National Academy) 3 David Morton (Bridgewater) 4 Fraser McKenzie (Heriot’s and National Academy) 5 Josh Brown (Bristol) 6 Jonny Baird (Watsonians) 8 Craig Simmonds (Heriot’s) 7 Andrew Rose (Hartpury College) Substitutes: Niall Shannon (Aberdeen Grammar FP), Gavin Cameron (Ellon and National Academy), Neale Patrick (Dunfermline), Lewis Calder (Newcastle Falcons), Ross Samson (Newcastle Falcons), James Murray (Leeds Carnegie and Edinburgh Academicals), Tom Bury (Boroughmuir and National Academy)