Scotland Under-20s rue 'soft scores' as coach admits one thing will keep him awake at night

The young Scots came close to pulling off a late comeback when two tries in the final seven minutes brought them to within six points of the visitors, but Wales scored an intercept try at the death to secure the win.

Pringle wasn’t too downhearted and said that the squad and coaching staff would work hard to try to fix their issues ahead of the tournament which begins for Scotland with a game against Italy U20 in Kutaisi on June 27 and continues with further pool matches against New Zealand U20 and Japan U20.

There were six Scottish tries through a double from prop Jamie Stewart and one apiece from Will Pearce, Jake Dalziel, Dan Halkon and Daniel Kelly, but Wales scored nine and were never behind in an entertaining game.

The young Scots lost heavily at home to Ireland last Friday and Pringle admitted he was disappointed not to bounce back with a win.

“I think this week we probably expected a bit more, you know, just because of our preparation,” said the coach. “In the first half, I was disappointed in some of our finish zone stuff. You get into their 22, you've got to come away with points.”

Lineouts were also a concern. “I won't be able to sleep well tonight just looking back at those lineouts,” he said.

Second-half improvement

Pringle added: “We know we have to tidy up our defence. I just thought we could have been a bit more effective in the first half. They scored some easy tries, like a first-phase try. And I'm sure we can fix those. It's just about cutting out those soft scores against us and then being more clinical when you get into their 22.

“In the second half, to be fair, we had some good entries into their 22 and we kept them under pressure then. Then we came away with points.”

Scotland lost Campbell Waugh before kick-off due to the centre’s tight hamstring and replaced him with Harry Soboil.

Rhys Cummings got the ball rolling for the visitors when he wriggled free down the left to open the scoring in the 12th minute but Scotland hit back with a try from Bristol loosehead Pearce who forced his way over from close range.

Two tries in two minutes, from Sam Morgan and Lewis Edwards, saw Wales move 17-9 ahead but Dalziel kept the Scots in touch. The Newcastle-bound stand-off showed good feet, scoring his side’s second try from a penalty move. His conversion - his second of three - cut Wales’ lead to five points but the Welsh moved further ahead with two more tries, by wing Dylan Scott and Morgan. They were 31-14 up at the turn.

Comeback hope

Two tries early in the second half brought Scotland back into the game, with Halkon and Stewart crossing to make the score 31-26.

Hopes of a comeback were dented by three more Wales scores, Oscar Thomas, Brogan Leary and Osian Williams doing the damage.

The Scots kept going and Wales began to creak. A yellow card was shown and Stewart was able to score his second try from a tap penalty. Ross Wolfenden converted. Kelly then sparked homes of a stunning comeback when his late converted try cut Wales’ lead to 46-40. But the visitors had the final say, replacement scrum-half Cai Gealy scoring to seal the win.

Meggetland teams and scorers

Scorers: Scotland U20: Tries: Pearce, Dalziel, Halkon, Stewart 2, Kelly. Cons: Dalziel 3, Wolfenden 2. Wales U20: Cummings, Morgan 2, Edwards, Scott, Thomas, Leary, Williams, Gealy. Cons: Leggatt-Jones 3, Lucas.

Scotland U20: Rory McHaffie; Daniel Kelly, Harry Soboil, Ross Wolfenden, Ewan Caven; Jake Dalziel, Adam McKenzie; Will Pearce, Joe Roberts (capt), Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, Alfie Blackett, Dan Halkon, Christian Lindsay, Jack Marshall, Harry Jackaman. Replacements: Jamie McAughtrie, Jamie Stewart, Jackson Rennie, Finlay Mather, Finn Ronnie, Sam Byrd, Jack Utterson, Oliver Finlayson-Russell, Matthew Fick, Calum Jessop, Harry Clark, Harry Provan, Asa Stewart-Harris

Wales U20: Lewis Edwards; Dylan Scott, Osian Darwin-Lewis, Jack Hoskins, Rhys Cummings; Carwyn Leggatt-Jones, Sion Davies; George Tuckley, James Talamai, Jac Pritchard, Will Evans, Tom Cottle, Deian Gwynne (capt), Sam Morgan, Evan Minto. Replacements: Oscar Thomas, Dylan James, Isaac Godfrey, Luke Evans, Osian Williams, Caio James, Alex Ridgway, Cai Gealy, Lloyd Lucas, Tom Bowen, Steff Emanuel, Bailey Cutts, Brogan Leary, George Leyland, Tom Howe.