Scotland end Wales hopes of U20 Six Nations glory - WRU report.
Wales U20 hopes of securing a coveted Six Nations title were left in tatters after a below par performance saw Dewi Lake’s side concede four tries in a 27-20 defeat at a bitterly cold and windy Meggetland in Edinburgh.
Two late tries by replacement hooker Will Griffiths and Sam Costelow, who impressed at fly half when he came on in the second half, ensured Wales left with a losing bonus point but in reality they were fortunate to get that close.
Wales were hoping a win against Scotland would set up a championship decider against Ireland next Friday at Zipworld Stadium but they can now only deny the Irish a Grand Slam after they secured title glory with a week to spare after defeating France.
“It was really disappointing in how we executed things - we had about a 60 per cent turnover rate which is unacceptable at any level to be fair and that cost us – we couldn’t get a foothold in the game,” said Wales head coach Gareth Williams.
“I thought Scotland were excellent but we prepared expecting that, they have grown through the Six Nations, but we didn’t match that and deserved to be on the wrong end of the score-line.
“We’re always asking questions of players who have opportunity, nights like this help answer questions on that as well. It’s an ongoing process, we talk about development a lot but winning is a part of that process and that was a game which should have been much tighter but through our errors we didn’t allow that to happen and Scotland were superb in capitalising on our mistakes.
“We showed great resolve to get a losing bonus point out of it because I don’t think we really deserved to get anything out of it to be fair.”
Wales could only muster two penalties in the first half via Cai Evans as Scotland led 19-6 at the break thanks to an early try by skipper Connor Boyle and further efforts by Robbie McCallum and Rory McMichael.
A penalty early in the second half edged Scotland further ahead before left-wing Jack Blain gathered a bouncing ball and streaked over for the bonus point try.
Wales finally found some rhythm in the later stages of the second half but late tries by Griffiths and Costelow proved in vain as Scotland secure their first scalp of the campaign and end Welsh hopes of gaining Six Nations glory.
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