Any weekend in which Scotland’s men at full international level and at the under 20 age grade both notch easy wins has to be celebrated because they don’t happen very often. Yes they were only playing Canada and Hong Kong China respectively but you can only beat what is put in front of you and both Scotland sides did excellent demolition jobs.
I did not think it would be so easy against Canada on the opening leg of the Americas tour, but I did think the under 20s would run up a cricket score against Hong Kong China and I spent most of the match wondering if they would reach the 100 point mark which they did with the last of 15 tries and the final conversion by stand-off Matthew Urwin, his 13th of the match.
That made the scoreline at the Hive Stadium 101-0, and note the importance of that ‘nil’ score by the visitors. Coach Kenny Murray was certainly pleased, saying: “The big thing for me was that we didn’t allow Hong Kong any points. Hong Kong scored three tries against Japan in round one. I thought the boys showed some good defence today.”
They certainly did, with some of the tackles making me wince. The Scots were well nigh unstoppable in attack, and have put themselves into a great position leading Japan on points difference going into Friday’s match against the junior Brave Blossoms. A draw would therefore suffice for them to top their pool, but Scotland will want to win in front of their home crowd and having notched 224 points in two games, I believe their scoring form will continue and they will win.
From the opening two matches I could name half a dozen players who have enhanced their reputations to a greater or lesser degree and I am hopeful that the likes of Urwin, hat-trick winger Finlay Doyle, hooker Seb Stephen, scrum-half Hector Patterson, centre Kerr Yule and back rower and captain Liam McConnell can continue to improve and make the full national squad soon.
They will face a tough chase to do so, because against Canada with ten uncapped players in the squad, Scotland recovered from a nervy start to just steamroller their opponents and make a very good impression on this observer. The under-20 players must have watched and thought ‘we might struggle to get into a squad that can win like that’ and they would be right.
After their opening try, Canada just fizzled out but it wasn’t so much a case of them being weak, though admittedly they have had a run of poor form, but Scotland being just too tough, too creative and too experienced, even with all those new caps.
Remember that this has always been seen as a development tour with young players being brought in to see what they can do at full international level. I have no hesitation in writing that the performance against Canada proved that we are building the strength in depth we need.
I though Gus Warr was outstanding but then the scrum-half has been performing superbly for Sale Sharks all season. His fellow Sale man Arron Reed showed up well, as did Dylan Richardson. Max Williamson was superb and will surely soon be a first choice at lock forward for Glasgow Warriors – he’s only 21, remember.
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The man of the match, however, was Harry Paterson, the Edinburgh full-back who was excellent in both defence and attack. He has just turned 23 and I am sure he will soon be providing the necessary cover for Blair Kinghorn in the Scotland squad.
Now for the USA and it will be a tougher match, albeit the Americans have dropped to 18th in the world rankings.
Scotland fans will need no reminding of what happened in 2018, the last time Scotland beat Canada and then moved on to the USA – the Eagles won 30-29 for their first win against a Tier One nation since the 1924 Olympics.
That was a chastening experience for head coach Gregor Townsend and he will not want a repeat of that. I anticipate that he will pick a team replete with experience, though I hope he sticks with some of the new caps and younger players, as this is just the sort of test they need at this stage of their development – that word again.
There will not be a repeat of last weekend’s drubbings as the USA and Japan’s under-20s are considerably better teams, but I am confident that both our men’s XVs can win again.
I have been watching the Tests in New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Argentina, and respectively England, Wales, Ireland and France all competed well against their host nations but only France won, beating Argentina 28-13. For what it’s worth I expect the same results this coming weekend and I’ll give my view on where the various nations stand at the end of the summer tests.
