U20s World Trophy final preview: discipline the key for Scotland against the USA

SCOTLAND  stand on the cusp of reunification with the top nations in next season’s World Rugby Under-20 Championship. On results, and on form, they should achieve it with victory over the USA in Wednesday’s World Trophy final at the Hive. 

Kenny Murray‘s team  will go into the final as out-and-out favourites, having taken the tournament by storm thus far,  and, tellingly, having eclipsed the other fancied side, Japan, in the final Pool A game with a sizeable winning margin (46-10).

It seems that in contrast to the debilitating diet of defeat on which the Scots subsisted over the last two Six Nations Under-20 championships, this group of players  are now a re-energised squad. It is a squad currently operating on high-octane confidence, enabling the young Scots to express themselves fully with crowd-pleasing attacking rugby on the back of physicality up front and balanced by tight and clinical defensive structures.

Twelve months ago it was all so different for Scotland in their first year in the Trophy event. In that 2023 edition, hosted by Kenya, the Scots had been tipped to finish top and to make an immediate return to the Championship. But it all went horribly wrong in the group stage when, unexpectedly, they lost to Uruguay.

Captain Liam McConnell contrasted his side’s situation on finals day of last year’s Trophy, when the Scots ended their tournament playing for (and getting) third place instead of what they had anticipated would be a head-to-head clash with Spain for the promotion spot.

“We probably went into the competition last year expecting we’d be in this position, in a final,” he said, adding that, a year on, the change in fortune has been about mental readiness as much as game preparation.  “There aren’t necessarily rugby lessons [from last year], but more in terms of a mindset – learning to never get complacent or look past anyone. We have done that well [in] the first three games here and the focus now is just on the USA – nothing else.”

The Boroughmuir man also believes that the Scotland squad are well prepared for the final in terms of both physical and match fitness. He said: “We have been training hard and the fitness and robustness is better than it has been before. We worked really hard for around five weeks,  before the tournament started – on our fitness – which put us in a good place while, in the months leading into it, boys were getting consistent games with the [Super Series] Sprint and the A teams.”

All of which should give Scotland a big jump on a USA side that did not have the benefit of playing in a competition of equivalent standard to the Under-20 Six Nations. Back-to-back wins over Canada in the Trophy qualification matches added up to USA’s preparation for this tournament.

But despite this lack of exposure to top sides, the USA – who undertook a global sweep for talent resulting in several England-based players and others from South Africa and Australia – have looked strong  in their Pool B matches, resulting in wins over Netherlands, Uruguay and Kenya.

Personnel-wise, the USA have strength in their back-row and in their outside-backs, notably at left wing, where the pacy Keelan Ferrell, who plays his rugby in the London suburb of Esher, has amassed six tries in the tournament.

That pace will test the Scots defence in the wider and midfield channels, but thus far it has looked pretty sound, as head coach Murray confirmed, picking out centre Johnny Ventisei for special mention. “I think Johnny has been fantastic defensively,” he said. “He won two turnovers in the wide channels against Japan and was dragging guys into touch. And some of his skill sets are really good. He’s a very good passer of the ball.”

Scotland would do well to maintain what, so far, has been very good discipline: if not, then New Zealander Oliver Cline, playing full-back for USA,  could mete out points punishment from the kicking tee.

The match against the USA will be the last of four games to decide final placings. The action at the Hive kicks off with the seventh-place play-off between Hong Kong China and Kenya, and is followed by the fifth-place play-off featuring Samoa and the Netherlands.  Japan then face Uruguay to determine third and fourth places, setting the stage for Scotland’s shoot-out with the USA in the match that will decide which country is promoted to the tier one Championship for next season.

Scotland Under-20s (v USA U20s at the Hive, Wednesday 7.45pm): F Watson; F Doyle, J Ventisei, F Thomson, G Gwynn; A McLean, C McAlpine; R Deans, J Blyth-Lafferty, O Blyth-Lafferty, E McVie, R Hart, L McConnell (captain), F Douglas, T Currie. Replacements: S Stephen, B White, J Shearer, D Cockburn, O Duncan, H Patterson, K Yule, J Hocking.