Alexandria’s Duncan Munn co-captained Scotland’s U20s to a dramatic 18-17 victory against Wales on Friday night.
The talented 19-year-old centre, who began his career with Bonhill’s Loch Lomond RFC at the age of five, caught the eye in front of a crowd of more than 2000 at Glasgow’s Scotstoun Stadium.
And Loch Lomond minis coach Owain Williams has backed Duncan to add his name to the prestigious list of sporting stars to come from the local area.
He said: “You can’t hold back on the superlatives.
“Everything he’s done; from playing for the club through to representing Glasgow and Scotland at different age levels to being captain of the U20s is remarkable.
“It’s difficult to put into words how proud the club is of Duncan.
“In the local area we’ve had the likes of Lachie Stewart, Jackie Stewart and Ross Murdoch. Duncan Munn will be the next name who puts this area on the map.
“This is just the next step. Give it another few years and he’ll be in the Glasgow shirt, if not the full Scotland shirt.
“He is that good. It’s just a matter of time before he’s in that bracket.
“Hopefully Duncan putting the club on the map in a big way will help bring more kids into Loch Lomond and into rugby in general.”
Duncan began his career at the Beechwood side at the age of five, following in the footsteps of his dad, John, who also played for the club.
The former Vale of Leven Academy pupil’s talent earned him a scholarship to Kelvinside Academy, and he’s now contracted to Glasgow Warriors - whilst playing club rugby for Boroughmuir Bears in the fiercely competitive Super6 series.
However he has never forgotten his roots at Loch Lomond, as Owain explained.
He continued: “When he can he still comes down to the club.
“He coached my own son in the P6/P7 team quite a few times towards the start of the season.
“He’s so proud of his roots.
“Last summer we had our Rugbyforce event to help promote rugby in the area. Duncan came down to represent Scotland, but his dad had to force him to put his Scotland gear on and not his Loch Lomond gear!
“When he’s out there he wants to be wearing the maroon and amber. It shows how proud he is of the club who started it all for him.”
And Owain hopes that Duncan’s achievements will inspire more youngsters to follow in his footsteps.
He added: “In the clubhouse there are pictures of Duncan from when he was about five or six, you can see him progressing through the club.
“From a coaching perspective we can tell the kids that, if they work hard, there’s no reason why they can’t follow in Duncan’s footsteps. It’s all about putting the hard work in.
“It can definitely help from a discipline point-of-view. Kids at primary school can be a bit crazy when they are with their pals, but if you tell them they won’t emulate Duncan if they mess around then that can really help.”
"A dream come true"
Duncan Munn said that captaining Scotland’s U20s to their first Six Nations home win in four years was a dream come true.
Duncan led Kenny Murray’s side to a tense 18-17 victory over Wales at Scotstoun Stadium in Glasgow, with more than 2000 fans watching on.
And speaking
, former Loch Lomond ace Duncan, 19, admitted it was an emotional 80 minutes.
He said: “There’s a lot of belief growing in this group. We knew it wouldn’t be easy, Wales are a good team and they really brought it to us. But I’m so proud of the boys and the way we stuck together.
“We’re a close group, we only came together a few weeks ago but we all have each other’s backs and we all stick to our gameplan.
“The crowd makes a massive difference. Playing in front of your friends and family with the thistle on is a dream come true.
“I know that fuelled a lot of the boys. It was fire in the belly, but ice in the heads. We had to control our emotions, we all had to do our job because it was tense.
“I’m overwhelmed by the belief we showed.”
Scotland got off to the perfect start when Rudi Brown charged over for the first try of the game early in the first-half.
In swirling wind the conversion was missed by Richie Simpson.
Ben Afshar’s penalty then put the Scots 8-0 to the good at half-time, with the hosts ending the half by dominating their opponents.
The second-half saw Wales respond strong, Morgan Morse’s try got them on the scoreboard with Dan Edwards converting.
Oli Andrew’s converted try then out the Welsh ahead, before Scotland staged a dramatic fightback.
Dan King’s penalty gave Kenny Murray’s young guns a narrow single point lead.
King had two more kicks at goal in the final ten minutes, with one hitting the post and the other sailing wide but it didn’t matter, as they held on.
