Hawick’s Hector Patterson scores consolation try as Scotland kick off first World Rugby U20 Championship since 2019 with 56-19 loss to England

Patterson was one of three Borderers in head coach Kenny Murray’s Johnny Ventisei-captained match-day squad in Verona, along with Gala’s Nairn Moncrieff and Melrose’s Dylan Cockburn.

Right-winger Moncrieff played for all 80 minutes of the young Scots’ opener, with his Edinburgh team-mate Patterson joining him as a 62nd-minute replacement for scrum-half Noah Cowan, nine minutes after Cockburn, now in their United Rugby Championship rivals Glasgow Warriors’ academy took over from Dan Halkon at lock.

They’re part of a 30-strong squad also including Melrose prop Ben White in Italy to contest a pool also including Australia and South Africa.

They now go on to play the Wallabies in Viadana this Friday and the Springboks in Calvisano next Wednesday, July 9, both 2.30pm kick-offs, as they try to make it to the knockout semi-finals of the competition.

Patterson’s 77th-minute try, converted by fly-half Matthew Urwin was Scotland’s third and last, following one by Cowan on seven minutes and a 12th-minute penalty try.

The English, left a man short by a 53rd-minute red card for flanker George Timmins for an illegal tackle on tighthead prop Ollie Blyth-Lafferty after going into half-time 42-12 up, were also awarded a penalty try by referee Marcus Playle, with their others touched down by Jack Bracken and Kane James at the double, Will Knight, Josh Bellamy and Ben Redshaw, with Ben Coen adding five conversions and full-back Bellamy two.

That result and a 73-17 victory for South Africa versus Australia in Calvisano leave the Springboks at the top of their table, level on five points with England, and Scotland third and the Wallabies bottom, both without any points.

This year’s championship, the 15th, is Scotland’s first since 2019, a 48-10 victory by a side featuring Patterson, White and Cockburn in 2024’s World Rugby U20 Trophy final at Edinburgh’s Hive Stadium last July having earned them promotion to the higher-level competition.

Murray, 51, blamed unforced errors for his side’s losing start to the championship, saying: “I’m disappointed with that 15-to-40-minute period that was probably when we lost the game.

“We conceded some soft tries. I thought we just made some needless errors, some individual errors – connections in defence let us down a few times – and at this level, and against a team like that, when you make those errors, you put yourself under pressure.

“I was pleased with the way we started – we got tries early on – and we have spoken about starting fast, but we didn’t build on that in terms of keeping them out and trying to really push for more tries.

“At half-time, when you're down by that amount of points, it’s always tough for the players, but I thought they showed a lot of resolve in the second half.”

Murray is due to name his squad to play Australia two days later this Wednesday.