Scotland U20 have named their team to face Wales at Broadwood Stadium on Friday night, 8.30pm kick off.
Having narrowly lost to Ireland and then been humbled by France, Scotland are looking to inject some life into their campaign this weekend.
Head Coach Sean Lineen has made five changes to the side that lost to France last time out, with Ross McCann stepping up from the bench to replace Robbie Nairn on the right wing, the Harlequins man will take McCann’s place on the bench.
Glasgow Hawks’ Josh Henderson starts at fly half, with Charlie Shiel making his tournament bow at scrum half, Wasps’ Connor Eastgate, one of three Scottish Exiles in the starting fifteen, moves from ten to inside centre.
In the pack Fergus Bradbury comes in at loosehead and Hamish Bain starts in the second row, they are joined in the pack by a couple of Scottish Exiles in Worcester Warriors’ Tom Dodd at number 8 and Gloucester’s Alex Craig at blindside, with Bishop Burton College’s George Thornton joining Harlequins’ Robbie Nairn on the bench.
Speaking to Scottish Rugby ahead of the game, Lineen said:
“Firstly, we’re looking forward to playing in front of a home crowd. There was a real buzz around Broadwood at our game against Ireland and we hope for a similar atmosphere this weekend. We’ve made a few changes to the starting side but the core of the squad remains fairly consistent.”
“There was a lot of positives to take from the game out in France and we have looked at building on them, while also focussing on improving our basic skills. Wales, as always, will be want to play a fluid and open game, while bringing an element of physicality at the contact and set-piece. We’ll need to front-up as a unit and match them if we’re to compete.”
Scotland U20 v Wales U20 – Friday, 8.30pm kick off, Broadwood Stadium, Live on BBC 2 Wales (red button) and on Scottish Rugby TV
Scotland U20 XV
15 Stafford McDowall (Ayr), 14 Ross McCann (Melrose), 13 Craig Pringle (Stirling County), 12 Connor Eastgate (Wasps), 11 Darcy Graham (Hawick), 10 Josh Henderson (Glasgow Hawks), 9 Charlie Shiel (Currie), 1 Fergus Bradbury (Stirling County), 2 Fraser Renwick (Hawick), 3 Adam Nicol (Stirling County), 4 Hamish Bain (Currie), 5 Callum Hunter-Hill (Stirling County), 6 Alex Craig (Gloucester), 7 Luke Crosbie (Currie), 8 Tom Dodd (Worcester Warriors).
Replacements: 16. Robbie Smith (Ayr), 17 Daniel Winning (Boroughmuir), 18 George Thornton (Bishop Burton College), 19 Bruce Flockhart (Glasgow Hawks), 20 Jamie Ure (Boroughmuir), 21 Andrew Simmers (Heriot’s), 22 Cameron Hutchison (Currie), 23 Robbie Nairn (Harlequins).
