Borderers help Scots to first win v Irish since 2018 at World Rugby U20 Championship

Head coach Kenny Murray’s age-grade side bounced back from losses to England by 56-19, Australia by 34-24 and South Africa by 73-14, leading to a bottom-placed finish in their pool with only one point to their name, to edge out the Irish in Verona by 22-21 in their ninth-place semi-final.

That was their first win at the championship and also their first against the Irish for seven years, their last having been by 45-29 against their fellow home nation in a ninth-place semi-final in France in 2018.

Right-winger Moncrieff’s sixth-minute score was followed by further tries from hooker Seb Stephen on 11 minutes, blindside flanker Oliver Duncan on 28 and replacement tighthead prop Jake Shearer right at the death to pip their opponents to the post, with fly-half Matthew Urwin converting Duncan’s touchdown.

Touching down for Ireland were Henry Walker on 25 minutes, Luke McLaughlin on 64 and Paidi Farrell on 69, with Daniel Green converting all three of those tries.

Scotland now go on to face Georgia in a play-off for ninth place on Saturday in Calvisano, with kick-off at 7.30pm.

Moncrieff was one of three Borderers in Murray’s starting XV, accompanied by Hawick’s Hector Patterson at scrum-half, a teammate of his in Edinburgh’s academy, and Melrose’s Dylan Cockburn, now in United Rugby Championship rivals Glasgow Warriors’ academy, at lock.

Moncrieff played for 68 minutes before going off for Jed Findlay, Patterson for 73 prior to making way for Noah Cowan and Cockburn for 56, replaced by Charlie Moss.

Melrose’s Ben White, also in Edinburgh’s academy, made an appearance too, taking over from loosehead prop Oliver McKenna on 56 minutes.

Kelso’s Jack Utterson was called up to Murray’s squad last week to replace lock Dan Halkon, ruled out of the rest of the tournament by concussion protocols, but wasn’t named in Monday’s match-day line-up.

Though there was no risk of relegation back to the World Rugby U20 Trophy due to the championship being expanded next year, Murray, 51, was glad to see his side avoid ending up bottom of the 12 competing and now guaranteed a top-ten finish, saying: “One of our goals was to stay in the tournament and justify our position here, finishing outside those relegation places, so I’m really pleased that we are in that ninth or tenth position.

“Of course we want to be higher up the ladder, but we’ve earned the right to stay in this competition. I take my hat off to the boys for that.

“When you’re not winning games, your self-belief drops a little bit, but I thought the players really dug in, never gave up and found a way to win in that last play. I’m really pleased for the boys.

“We’ve come through a tough group and I think the boys have shown real resilience. It says a lot about them as players and all the staff that have supported them during the tournament.

“The guys all want to be pro players and they want to play for their country at the top level. If you want to do that, you need to be able to cope and play against teams at this level.

“There’s a lot of learning from the competition for everybody – staff and players.

“A big thing for me is that they’re going to be better for taking part in this tournament. They’ll have learned a huge amount about themselves and the places they can take themselves to.”

New Zealand play South Africa in this year’s final in Rovigo, also at 7.30pm on Saturday.