McInally retains Scotland U20 captaincy
Scotland U20 head coach Eamon John on Friday named his 26-strong squad for the 2010 IRB Junior World Championship in Argentina, which opens with a trio of southern-hemisphere opposition.
The young Scots side will face 2009 semifinalists Australia and South Africa before taking on Tonga in a repeat of the side’s 28-25 ninth-place playoff victory over the South-Sea Islanders in last season’s championship.
Having already amassed 15 U20 caps from two Six Nations and last season’s world championships, age-grade stalwart, Stuart McInally, retains the captaincy.
McInally, who recently signed for Edinburgh, is joined by a further five players who have the benefit of experiencing last year’s world championship in Japan: Alex Dunbar, Tom Brown, Grant Gilchrist, Robert Harley and Alun Walker, while all but five of the remaining party featured in the 2010 Six Nations.
New additions include Michael Tait, son of former Scotland and British Lion, Alan Tait, who returns to the U20s having missed the Six Nations with a foot injury.
Anthony Kent, Adam Fedorciow and Russell Weir have been called up from the Exiles programme while lock Robert McAlpine makes the step up from the U19 side.
John said: “Since the Six Nations we’ve seen some players develop through the age-grade and into the professional environment which is only good for the game in Scotland so, in relation to individuals coming through, it’s been really pleasing.
“But what we must take on board are the serious lessons learned on how to compete with the best teams and we’re certainly going to have to do that going into the World Cup.
“To play five test matches in 17 days, with a four day turnaround between each day is physically and mentally demanding so recovery is really important for us. We have to be accurate and specific about what we need to get right for our performance.
“We have focussed on moving our game forward – while being conscious of the teams we’re playing – to be a position to offer different options for different games.
“Not every player gets the opportunity to go to a World Cup of any kind so there’s a real prestige from being involved and there’s a real excitement about the team – as there should be.
“The pools probably don’t get much tougher than ours. It’s very tough and very demanding but that’s what it’s about – we’ve got to see which players in our system can go and compete at a world level.”
Scotland U20 squad
Forwards: David Denton, Michael Fedo, Adam Fedorciow, Grant Gilchrist, Robert Harley, George Hunter, Anthony Kent, Nicky Little, Robert McAlpine, Michael Maltman, Stuart McInally, Colin Philips, Calum Stidston-Nott, Alun Walker.
Backs: Alex Black, Tom Brown, Alex Dunbar, Dougie Fife, Oliver Grove, James Johnstone, Jonny Kennedy, Callum MacBurnie, Matthew Scott, Michael Tait, Duncan Weir, Russell Weir.
