Melrose player Rory to captain young Scots

Number eight Darge, from Melrose, is due to lead the young Scots against Ireland U20 at Independent Park, Cork, on Friday night, kicking off at 7.15pm.

Two other Southern Knights players, Jacob Henry and Mak Wilson, are also in the squad named by U20s head coach Sean Lineen, with Graham playhing on the wing and Wilson on the bench.

The young charges will be seeking to get their tournament off to a strong start against last year’s U20 Grand Slam champions.

From the selected 23, the team boasts 17 members who have featured in the newly-created FOSROC Super6 this season, with 12 players in the matchday squad having appeared in Scotland’s previous U20 campaign.

Lineen told the Scottish Rugby website: “It’s been a pretty tough selection. There area a lot of guys who were here last year and they obviously have a point to prove.

“The team’s come together really well, they’re pretty tight and working really hard on different parts of their game.

“We know we will need to get our performance right against a pretty physical and clever Irish outfit who won this fixture last year away from home, so we know what type of cauldron we’re going into.

“We’ve prepared really well this week, I’ve been very impressed with their attitude and we’re going over there to give a really good performance.”

Another Borders man named in the original pool of players, Thomas Jeffery, is ruled out of tomorrow’s game because of injury.