Despite outscoring the home side by five tries to three, four of which came in the first half, Wales were made to pay for their continued indiscipline and team manager Mark Taylor was left cursing the fact his players had not listened to instructions during the interval.
“It has been awful,” was Taylor’s honest assessment of the game in the second half. “We talked about discipline at half-time and nothing changed. Discipline is definitely something we will have to look at next week.”
Stand-in skipper Ollie Griffiths was also brutally honest in his assessment of the display in a game everyone had hoped to see Wales take the second step towards a possible first Triple Crown at this level.
“This is a massive disappointment. We knew it was going to be difficult up here, but we travelled to Scotland feeling pretty confident,” said Griffiths. “We’ve got another big game coming up in a few weeks in France and we will have to work hard to put things right.”
It was the trusty boot of Scottish scrum half George Horne that proved the difference between the two sides in the end. The Glasgow Hawks youngster made the most of the stream of penalty shots offered to him and ended with a match tally of 21 points.
By contrast, Welsh outside half Dan Jones wasn’t up to the 80% goalkicking mark of last weekend in Colwyn Bay and could manage only three conversions and a penalty.
Horne gave the Scots an early lead with two penalties in the opening six minutes to steady home nerves a week after they concede seven tries in a 47-6 hammering in France – Wales’ next opponents.
But as soon as Wales calmed down and began to hold on to the ball the tries began to flow. Tom Phillips converted a driving line out into the opening try after 10 minutes and then Dafydd Howells was put through a gap by Owen Watkins to cross for a second try in five minutes.
This time Jones added the conversion, but that man Horne quickly punished another silly Welsh penalty with a third success to cut the Welsh advantage to three points at the end of the first quarter.
When they moved the ball Wales always looked dangerous and Joshua Adams finished off a superb move after 21 minutes to cross for a third try that should have lifted Welsh confidence and put a dent in the home side’s resolve.
But no sooner had Wales crossed the home line again than Horne kicked a fourth penalty to trim the gap again, but a solo effort by centre Garyn Smith, converted by Jones, gave Wales a 12 point lead on the half-hour. At last Wales seemed to be getting a grip of the game, but they lost Phillips with a knee injury and things simply went from bad to worse.
Scotland kicked to the corner when they won another penalty on the stroke of half-time and they successfully turned it into a try for prop Murray McCallum and Horne’s inevitable conversion made it 24-19 to Wales at the break.
That gap was cut to two points within four minutes of the restart with Horne’s next penalty and then lock Lewis Carmichael drove over for a try which Horne converted to put Scotland back in front 29-24. Jones kicked a penalty to cut the gap to three points, but the final quarter was dominated by the rampaging Scottish pack.
Welsh hopes of a revival received a blow when lock Adam Beard picked up a yellow card after 65 minutes and three minutes later Scotland’s other prop, Zander Fagerson, barged o ver for a try which Horne once again improved.
Adams was worked clear for his second try eight minutes from time and Jones’ conversion gave Wales a last shot a glory. But they couldn’t get their hands on the ball and ran out of time and steam to end hopes of a first Triple Crown at this age level.
The defeat was bittersweet for Josh Adams, who scored a well taken brace of tries.
“We probably came to Scotland as favourites after beating England, the world champions, but all credit to the Scots,” said Adams.
“We played some godd rugby in the first half and to get four tries before the break was great in international rugby. We have to look at elements of our game like exiting the twenty two and discipline but there is a lot we can take confidence from. I was pleased to get on the scoresheet with two but it doesn’t take away the disappointment.”
Ollie Griffiths, added: “Losing one game like that doesn’t suddenly make us a bad team. We can take lots of positives from that game and there were also some good individual performances. Discipline was an issue and we will have to look hard at that in the week to take confidence into the game againt France.
Wales coach Geraint Lewis, said: “We scoired some great tries in the first half but a lack of discipline let Scotland back into the game. We should have finished off the game in that first half but through the penalty count we let them back into it.
“We came out the wrong end of some decisions but that is what you have to learn to deal with in international rugby and once we let them back into the game they took advantage.”
Scorers: Scotland U20: Tries: M McCallum, L Carmichael, Z Fagerson; Cons: G Horne 3; Pens: G Horne 5. Wales U20: Tries: J Adams 2, T Phillips, D Howells, G Smith; Cons: D Jones 3; Pen: D Jones
Scotland Under 20: Ruairi Howarth (Edinburgh Rugby/Gala); Ruaraidh Smith (Currie), Archie Russell (Stirling County), Patrick Kelly (Le Parc), Alec Coombes (London Scottish); Rory Hutchinson (Northampton Saints), George Horne (Glasgow Hawks); Murray McCallum (Aberdeen Grammar Rugby), Ross Graham (Hawick), Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors/Glasgow Hawks), Scott Cummings (Glasgow Warriors/Glasgow Hawks), Lewis Carmichael (Melrose), Neil Irvine-Hess (Melrose), Jamie Ritchie (Edinburgh Rugby), Magnus Bradbury (Edinburgh Rugby/Boroughmuir)
Replacements: Jake Kerr (Edinburgh Rugby/Watsonians) for Graham 54; Dan Elkington (Watsonians) for McCallum 55; Andrew Davidson (Glasgow Warriors/Glasgow Hawks) for Cummings 60; Ally Miller (Edinburgh Rugby/Watsonians) for Irvine-Hess 65; Tom Galbraith (Melrose) for Kelly 41; Ben Robbins (Edinburgh Rugby/Watsonians) for Coombes 62
Wales Under 20: Dafydd Howells (Ospreys); Joshua Adams (Scarlets), Owen Watkin (Ospreys), Garyn Smith (Blues), Barney Nightingale (Dragons); Dan Jones (Scarlets), Tom Williams (Blues); Luke Garrett (Dragons), Liam Belcher (Blues), Dillon Lewis (Blues), Joe Davies (Dragons), Adam Beard (Ospreys), Tom Phillips (Scarlets), Ollie Griffiths (Dragons), Harrison Keddie (Dragons)
Replacements: Torin Myhill (Scarlets) for Belcher 63; Rory Bartle (Gloucester) for Viggars 69; Jordan Viggers (Blues) for Phillips 36; Rhys Williams (Leicester Tigers) for Watkin 67
