| BROWN’S BRACE NOT ENOUGH FOR YOUNG SCOTS |
| Friday, 12 February 2010 | ||
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Two consecutive penalties from Welsh stand-off, Matthew Jarvis, kept the hosts in front for the majority of the half until a converted try a-piece in the final minutes meant the sides both had something to show for enterprising back play. The disappointment of conceding a try at the death of the first-half was compounded by a Welsh score just minutes into the second to ultimately put the hosts out of reach - despite stand-out back, Tom Brown, bringing the try count level with his second of the afternoon. It took just five minutes for Jarvis to register his first effort from the deck and, despite the Scots’ backs showing plenty of attacking flair in the Welsh 22, the home side defended defiantly before working the territory well to find themselves in Scotland’s red zone. Winger Oliver Grove was then penalised for not rolling away from the tackle. Jarvis missed the opportunity to double the lead but made up for the miss minutes later to make it 6-0 after a testing half hour. The open match saw chances go to either team with Wales inside-centre Scott Williams making good breaks up the middle, one of which called on Brown to make a try saving tackle deep in the Scotland 22. Scotland then got the score their interplay had deserved when Brown crossed the whitewash for the first of two scores in the evening. Stand-off Alex Blair dummied and stepped his opposite man to go clean through before drawing the last defender on the 22 metre line and passing to the supporting outside-centre, James Johnstone who was clean through. Despite the open opportunity, Welsh cover forced Johnstone towards the touchline but, just before he was ousted, he flicked the ball over his shoulder to Brown to complete the superb score. Grove converted to put Scotland in the lead, 6-7. Disappointingly however, with the interval looming, the Welsh were awarded a free-kick and opted for the quick tap, with Scotland’s frontline defence caught napping. The ground earned by the break laid the platform for repeated pick and goes before prop Simon Gardiner punched through from short range. Jarvis added the extras to put his side up at the break. Half time: 13-7 With just five points in it Scotland needed to get the next score but a second crucial try by the Welsh just five minutes after returning to the park poured cold water on the visitors’ hopes. After earning a scrum on the Scottish five metre line, the Welsh drove Scotland back with number 8 Morgan Allen dribbling the ball on at the back. Scrum-half Rhys Downes then picked from the spun scrum and drove across. Jarvis was again on target to stretch Wales’ lead, 20-7. Scotland under-20 coach Eamon John then sought to shake things up in midfield. Kris Hamilton, the fleet-footed scrum-half replaced Alex Black while Matthew Scott came on for the recently rejuvenated James Johnstone. Scott moved into the stand-off berth and pushed both Alex Blair and Alex Dunbar one place out to inside and outside-centre respectively. The shake-up paid off immediately, with the skill of Scott and Blair combining well to create space for the Scottish back-row and the strike running of Brown and Dunbar, all of which were key to Scotland’s next score. The athletic open-side flanker, David Denton, pinched a Welsh lineout out and offered a superb offload as he was brought to deck having burst through the set-piece. Hamilton collected and shifted the ball to Blair who released wing Dougie Fife. Fife hit the ball at pace and passed to Brown who shrugged off two defenders to score a cracking try from the Welsh 22 metre line. Grove missed the conversion for the last score of the match although Wales would have had another were it not for the luxury of a TMO. With less than ten minutes to go, Williams burst through from the Scottish 10 metre line and touched down at the corner flag however, on review, the tracking tap-tackle of Brown brought his trailing foot just into touch for the lineout. Final score: 20-12 Scotland under-20 head coach, Eamon John said: “It’s disappointing to come down here and lose but Wales is difficult place to come and play. “I think Wales managed the pitch better tonight, we conceded two soft tries but if you look at our play we scored two cracking tries. Tom Brown was top class tonight. “Now we have a rest week and then a week’s preparation for the Italy and given their performance against England tonight [Italy narrowly lost 10-16] anyone who thinks an away trip to Italy is easy can think again.” WALES TEAM SCOTLAND TEAM * Denotes a member of the Scottish National Contracted Academy Referee: Cedric Marchat (France) |
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