Wales U20 defeat Scottish counterparts at Rodney Parade
Wales U20 recorded their first victory in the U20 Six Nations Championship with a fine display against Scotland U20 at Rodney Parade on Friday night.
Tries by Leigh Halfpenny, Scott Andrews, Ryan Bevington and Daniel Evans secured a convincing win for Patrick Horgan's side as they bounced back from defeat against England U20 last weekend. Scotland U20 replied through prop Gary Strain but this was a pleasing performance at the start of the first 2008 U20 Six Nations weekend in Wales.
The home side were sharp out of the traps and scored their first try within four minutes as a sweeping attacking move including Llanelli Scarlets' Jonathan Davies and Evans was finished superbly by the overlapping Halfpenny. The Cardiff wing converted his own try to set the Three Feathers on their way.
Just six minutes later, the hosts had doubled their try count when prop Andrews scrambled over after outside half Dan Biggar's beautiful cross-kick caught the visitors cold.
Halfpenny failed to convert the extras but Wales U20 were on the front foot and it wasn't long before the third try came. Ospreys prop Bevington stormed through a weak Scottish defence to make it 17-0 inside 24 minutes.
Scotland U20's forward pack finally came to life after a dismal opening quarter and their persistence paid off when Strain touched down following a series of powerful drives to reduce the deficit to 12 points. Stephen McColl converted and the Dunfermline centre then kicked a penalty as Wales U20 led by seven points at the break.
The Welsh were hampered early in the second period when Bristol prop Ryan Prosser was lucky to only receive a yellow card for stamping, but despite the numerical disadvantage, Wales U20 continued to pile on the points and full-back Evans rounded off the scoring with a lovely break to complete a decent evening's work in Newport.
Wales U20 27 Scotland U20 10
Scorers
Wales U20
Tries: Halfpenny, Andrews, Bevington, Evans
Cons: Halfpenny (2)
Scotland U20
Tries: Strain
Con: McColl
Pen: McColl
Attendance: 2,422
Wales U20: Daniel Evans (Scarlets); Leigh Halfpenny (Blues), Jonathan Davies (Scarlets), Rhys Williams (Scarlets), Jimmy Norris (Dragons); Daniel Biggar (Ospreys), Luke Evans (Blues); Ryan Bevington (Ospreys), Ryan Prosser (Bristol Academy), Scott Andrews (Blues), Haydn Pugh (Scarlets), Jevon Groves (capt, Blues), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Nicholas Cudd (Scarlets), Josh Turnbull (Scarlets)
Replacements: Sam Hobbs (Blues), Ben Roberts (Dragons), Ashley Sweet (Dragons), Rory Pitman (Ospreys), Gareth Williams (Ospreys), Jason Tovey (Dragons), Nathan Rees (Blues)
Scotland U20: Murray Allan (Loughborough University); Tom Bury (Boroughmuir and National Junior Academy), Ruaridh Jackson (Glasgow Hawks and National Senior Academy), Stephen McColl (Dunfermline and National Junior Academy), Chris Kinloch (Edinburgh Academicals and National Senior Academy); James Murray (Leeds Carnegie and Edinburgh Academicals), Ross Samson (Newcastle Falcons); Gary Strain (Glasgow Hawks and National Junior Academy), Adrian Duncan (Stewart s-Melville FP and National Senior Academy), Lewis Niven (Edinburgh Academicals), Josh Brown (Bristol), Neale Patrick (Dunfermline), Fraser McKenzie (Heriots and National Senior Academy), Lewis Calder (capt, Newcastle Falcons), Craig Simmonds (Heriots)
Replacements: Fraser Brown (Biggar), Angus Dixon (Aberdeen Grammar Rugby), Craig Charters (Hawick), Steven Burton (Currie), Matthew Heeks (London Scottish), Steven Wilson (Dundee HSFP and National Junior Academy), Lee Jones (Selkirk)
Referee: Greg Garner (RFU)
