Melrose man Mak in Scots squad for first time

Head coach Carl Hogg announced his 28-man squad earlier this week for the June 4-22 event – included are 15 players who are currently enrolled in the Fosroc Scottish Rugby Academy, while only four players were not previously involved in the U20 Six Nations earlier this year.

Five members of the squad have previous World Rugby U20 Championship experience, and Hogg said: “This year’s squad includes a good mix of youth and experience, with a large number of the group having performed together during the recent Six Nations campaign.

“The squad made huge strides over the course of the Six Nations and eventually adapted to the pace and intensity of international age-grade rugby.

“We were at our best when we played with real speed but also made intelligent decisions, with and without the ball. The highlight was clearly the performance against Wales at Meggetland, which provides us with a real template for success.

“Preparations are going really well but we know how tough a task we face in next month’s tournament. We have been being drawn in group with the rugby powerhouses of South Africa and New Zealand, as well as a really strong Georgian outfit.

“Each of these teams will present very different challenges but we believe we have the game plan and players capable of adapting to find a winning way,” added Hogg, who is moving to coach at Ospreys after the tournament.

The age-grade side will complete its preparations for the Championship in Argentina with a week-long training camp in Washington DC, which will include a warm-up fixture against Old Glory DC on Memorial Day, May 27.

The camp follows the announcement that Scottish Rugby has taken a minority stake in the MLR expansion side Old Glory DC, with the opportunity to focus U20 preparations stateside the first example of the relationship in action.

Scotland U20 will be playing all three of their opening pool matches at the Racecourse Stadium in Rosario, beginning against South Africa U20 on June 4 at 2.30pm BST and continuing against New Zealand U20 at 7.30pm BST on June 8.

The final pool stage fixture is against Georgia on June 12 at 2.30pm BST. All three matches are due to be streamed live on world.rugby/u20