Townsend set for first Scotland U20s start in showdown at Scotstoun
Luke Townsend, son of Scotland coach Gregor, is one of four changes to the side ahead of their fourth round of the U20s Six Nations.
The Melrose fly-half will make his U20s debut after injury to Richie Simpson.
“I’ll be more nervous tonight than I will be on Sunday, that’s for sure”, said proud father Gregor.
“It’ll be a big challenge for them tonight but the last time they played at home I thought they played really well against Wales so I’ll be looking forward to seeing him play.
“I’m going through with my family, I’m not sure how many of the guys are, it’s their day off today so probably not many will go through but they’ll be watching on TV.”
He continued: “We’ve watched all the U20s games on TV and the squad are really behind the U20s. Their performance against England was inspiring and the win against Wales was a great boost to all the efforts that have gone in.”
Scotland’s U20 head coach Kenny Murray has rejigged his second row as Harris McLeod returns from injury, images of his try scoring efforts against England in the opening round of the tournament immediately conjured up.
Murray also replaces both of his wings, rewarding Geordie Gwynn and Logan Jarvie with their first starts in the tournament.
Murray noted: “Richie got a bit of a head knock against France and has struggled to get back from that mainly because he had a virus last week and couldn’t do the return to play stuff. He has just not managed, but all things going well he’ll be fit for selection the following week.”
“[Luke] has been in training with us pretty much most of the programme, he has had some game time with Melrose and he is a really confident young player. He always has a smile on is face, that is one of the things that I like about Luke, nothing seems to get to him,” the U20s coach added.
The young Scottish side is in desperate need of redemption after an unfavourable 54-12 score line in Agen against France.
Murray commented that the whole squad accepted their shortcomings: “All of the boys knew that we hadn’t reached the levels of performance that we had reached in England and versus Wales, so there was no pretending and everyone was very honest as a group.
“We knew there are a lot of things we had to work on from that game, we tried to find some positives, we forced 14 turnovers and if you do that you should be winning games, but there were just some critical moments. In the 34th minute we were just one try behind then we gave away two soft scores and in the second half our set piece didn’t function too well.”
Tonight’s Irish team is just as daunting a side as Scotland’s senior team will play at Murrayfield on Sunday. Hooker Corey Tait knows the pressure Ireland will put the Scotland pack under upfront.
He said: “Ireland are a really good technical team, we know they will be physical, and there’s no place to hide from that, we just need to fight fire with fire.”
Head coach Murray agrees with the Boroughmuir Bear: “They are the best rugby playing team in the competition. They were a strong side last year and they have already shown this year that they have a good balance to their team. They have a good set piece, a good drive and some good players.
“We have enjoyed things so far, we would like to be sitting here with two wins from three, we should have beaten England after being 36-31 ahead.”
