Borderers maintain status as ever-presents for Scotland at rugby’s 2026 Under-20 Six Nations

Peebles’ McHaffie, 18, continued on the left wing, Gala’s Moncrieff, 19, on the right and Melrose’s Dalziel, 17, at fly-half in front of a crowd of almost 5,000 at Cardiff Arms Park.

All three put in full 80-minute shifts for the third match on the trot, following on from head coach Fergus Pringle’s young Scots’ 33-17 defeat at home to England at Edinburgh’s Hive Stadium seven days earlier and 36-10 opening-round win away to Italy in Treviso the Friday before that.

They were accompanied by Kelso’s Jack Utterson at openside flanker against the English and Italians prior to making way for Harvey Preston on 56 minutes and 63 respectively, but the 18-year-old was ruled out of the weekend’s round-three game by a hamstring injury.

Squad captain Ross Wolfenden, a former teammate of McHaffie’s at Peebles and currently playing alongside him in United Rugby Championship club Edinburgh’s academy, like Moncrieff, also missed Friday’s game due to injury, hurting an ankle while warming up, leading to Harry Clark replacing him at inside-centre.

That’s the second game of this tournament the 19-year-old has missed after being ruled out of playing against Italy by a concussion in training.

Wolfenden did play for 50 minutes against the English, though, before trading places with Calum Jessop.

The Scots’ try-scorers in Cardiff were outside-centre Campbell Waugh on 45 minutes, replacement No 8 Jack Marshall on 70 and substitute tighthead prop Jackson Rennie on 74, with Dalziel, a pupil at Edinburgh’s Merchiston Castle School, converting all three.

Touching down for their hosts were Luke Evans on four minutes, Bailey Cutts on 15, Dylan Scott on 52 and Tom Howe on 60, with Carwyn Leggatt-Jones adding three penalties and Lloyd Lucas a conversion.

That second defeat of this championship sees Scotland fall two places to second from bottom of the table, on five points from three fixtures, ahead of games at home to France on Friday, March 6, and away to Ireland on Sunday, March 15, with respective kick-offs at 6.15pm and 3.15pm.

Reviewing Friday’s loss on the road, former Hawick lock Pringle, 47, told the Offside Line rugby news website: “For the second week in a row, we didn’t start well.

“I think we gave away 13 penalties in the first two games and that was 15 penalties in one game, which is a tough ask. That really cost us, just the indiscipline.

“We’ve got to be able to adapt on the pitch, which is a learning for us. At the end of the day, it’s four tries to three, so it should feel like it was a close game, but it just felt like we gave them too much of a head start, and then there were a few soft moments when we made mistakes and they capitalised.

“We’ve got to give Wales credit because they took their chances when they got them and were pretty clinical, but I just think for us it’s about managing the game better.

“When we did get in their half in the first half, we actually looked like we were going to score points, but we didn’t get in there much in the first half, and there were a couple of times when we were just about getting into that finish zone and we made a mistake or we got held up and we weren’t clinical enough.

“I think the guys will realise and learn from this, that to win games away from home in the Six Nations, you have to make sure you take your chances, you cut out those errors and you don’t give away so many penalties, because then you really are up against it.”

The South African is unsure how long Utterson will be out injured for, adding: “He picked up a slight niggle in training and we just can’t take any chances. You have to be really careful with the hamstring.

“It’s obviously a pity because he’s been going really well, but it’s one of these things when it’s into the third week and you’ve just got to be so careful with how you do things, how you manage the boys.”