Try by Borderer Nairn Moncrieff helps Scots end two-year losing streak at rugby’s Under-20 Six Nations

The right-winger’s 26th-minute try, his first for head coach Kenny Murray’s age-grade side, was one of four scored by the hosts at Edinburgh’s Hive Stadium on their way to a 27-12 victory.

Their others were touched down by openside flanker and captain Freddy Douglas at the double and full-back Jack Brown, with replacement Isaac Coates kicking a penalty and fly-half Matthew Urwin adding two conversions.

Ioan Emanuel and Harry Thomas scored tries, one of them converted by Harri Wilde, for the visiting Welsh, reduced to 14 men for over half the match by a full red card for Tom Cottle and to 13 for part of that period by an overlapping 20-minute version shown to Logan Franklin by referee Katsuki Furuse.

Friday’s win ended an 11-match Six Nations losing streak for Scotland’s under-20s and it was only their second in 24 championship fixtures, their last victory prior to the weekend also having been at home to Wales, by 18-17 in February 2023.

Murray, 51, was glad to see that long-awaited return to winning ways, saying: “We were obviously very pleased to get a win.

“It can be a tough old campaign when you’re not winning games. We were really pushing to get that win.

“It wasn’t a perfect performance. We made some errors which could have cost us and we got some luck with some discipline decisions, and that’s great because sometimes we just don’t get much luck.

“Importantly, it gives the boys a smile on their faces and helps going into the final game in Paris next weekend.”

The Scots remain at the foot of the championship table but they’re now level on five points from four fixtures with second-from-bottom Ireland ahead of this year’s finale away to France this Friday, with kick-off at 7.15pm.

Moncrieff, making his fourth appearance and third start on the spin of the tournament, played for the first 66 minutes on Friday before going off for Cameron van Wyk.

He was the only Borderer in Friday’s match-day line-up of 23 but he is accompanied in Murray’s wider squad by former Hawick scrum-half Hector Patterson and ex-Peebles fly-half Ross Wolfenden.

The 18-year-old, allocated to Kelso as a draft player this Arnold Clark Premiership season, kept hold of the No 14 jersey he was handed for the Scots’ losses by 57-13 away to England at Newcastle’s Kingston Park on Friday, February 21, and 33-15 at home to Ireland on Saturday, February 8, his first start for the under-20s.

He played for the first half of that away-day south of the border before making way for Ayr’s van Wyk, with Wolfenden coming on as a replacement for outside-centre Campbell Waugh just after the hour mark.

The match before at the Hive saw Moncrieff on the pitch for the first 73 minutes before being replaced by ex-Glasgow Hawk Waugh, with Patterson being brought on at half-time and Wolfenden on 70 minutes, respectively taking over from Noah Cowan and Urwin.

All three featured as replacements for the young Scots’ opening 22-10 defeat hosting Italy on Friday, January 31, too. Patterson was first on, replacing Cowan on 49 minutes, with Moncrieff and Wolfenden, making their under-20 debuts, following him onto the field on 64 minutes and 76, taking the places of Fergus Watson and Urwin.