Borderers make up a third of Scotland’s starting XV for round two of rugby’s 2026 Under-20 Six Nations

Head coach Fergus Pringle selected four representatives of the region for last Friday’s opening 36-10 win away to Italy in Treviso and the former Hawick lock, 47, has added another for round two of the tournament as squad captain Ross Wolfenden is available after being ruled out by concussion protocols last time round.

Wolfenden, 19, starts at inside-centre, joining former Peebles teammate Rory McHaffie, Gala’s Nairn Moncrieff, Melrose’s Jake Dalziel and Kelso’s Jack Utterson.

All four keep their shirts from round one – McHaffie on the left wing, Moncrieff on the right, Dalziel at fly-half, prompting a switch from No 10 to No 12 for Wolfenden, and Utterson, usually a hooker, at openside flanker.

McHaffie, Moncrieff and Dalziel all scored tries against Italy as the young Scots chalked up their first age-grade Six Nations away win since 2020.

Their other scorers were hooker Joe Roberts, inside-centre Henry Kesterton and replacement openside flanker Harvey Preston, with scrum-half Hamish MacArthur adding three conversions.

Gala’s Moncrieff, Melrose’s Dalziel and Peebles’ McHaffie were among four representatives of the region in the South African’s starting line-up, along with Kelso’s Jack Utterson at No 7.

McHaffie, Moncrieff and Dalziel all played for the full 80 minutes, with Utterson going off for Preston on 63.

McHaffie’s old Gytes teammate Ross Wolfenden, named as squad captain ahead of the tournament, missed out due to concussion protocols.

South African Pringle – appointed as the under-20s head coach in November, replacing Kenny Murray, with Jedburgh’s Greig Laidlaw and fellow ex-Edinburgh scrum-half Sean Kennedy as assistants – was delighted to start off with a victory and is hoping for more of the same this week against the English, 19-16 winners hosting Wales in Northamptonshire on Friday, saying: “We mentioned that we wanted to try and get a win away from home as we hadn’t done that before in my time here, the last two or three seasons, so it was good to go and do that.

“Italy is a tough place to go and get a win, so that was obviously a really pleasing result for us, but we also know we have to move on pretty quick and focus on this week as it’s going to be a massive challenge for us against England on Friday at the Hive.”

Dalziel, 17, named as man of the match gainst the Italians, added: “Coming in on Sunday, the vibe and the buzz in the group were up another level.

“In training, you can see it rubbing off on everyone. Even the guys that didn’t play are really buzzing to fight for that jersey and get out there on Friday night.

“I’ve not played at home for the under-20s yet, so it’s going to be good. Hopefully we get some good numbers down, guys that are going to be loud and cheer us on.

“I’d say England will be another level up this week and obviously coming off a win themselves, it’s going to be another challenge.”

Friday’s game kicks off at 7.15pm and the hosts go into it level on five points with table-toppers France, 50-21 winners at home to Ireland on Saturday.

It’s being screened live on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website.

Also in Friday’s starting line-up are Roberts, MacArthur, Henry Widdowson, Campbell Waugh, Jamie Stewart, Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, Christian Lindsay, Alfie Blackett, Sam Byrd and Rory Purvis.

On the bench are Preston, Jamie McAughtrie, Oliver McKenna, Jackson Rennie, Fin Ronnie, Oliver Finlayson-Russell and Adam McKenzie.