Femi sofolarin proof#2

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Scotland U18 squad named for inaugural Six Nations Festival

Scotland U18 32-27 England U18

could improve.

“We also added a couple of additional players to the squad who were involved with Scotland U20, and that has given the group a boost.

“England can score from anywhere and they did that today, so it’s all credit to England and we’re learning a bit from them about how to play.

“Credit to our guys for the character they showed in the second-half to grind out the victory.

“It’s quite a quick turnaround to our game against France on Wednesday, so we’ll recover well, review the game and do a quick session.

“It’s great to start with a win as it’ll give the boys belief ahead of that game.”

Scotland U18 24-21 France U18

31/03/18 Scotland U18

28/03/18 Scotland U18 Iain Monaghan has named a 26-man squad to travel to

Wales this week for the Six Nations U18 Festival, which kicks off on Saturday.

Following a narrow defeat to Wales earlier this month and a behind-closed-doors game against England, the squad will compete in the inaugural Six Nations U18 Festival and have games against England, France and Ireland to look forward to over a 10-day period.

Italy and Wales will also compete in the Festival over Easter, that will see all teams play on three match days - Saturday, 31 March (Ystrad Mynach), Wednesday, 4 April (Cardiff Arms Park) and Sunday, 8 April (Cardiff Arms Park).

Scotland U18 Head Coach Iain Monaghan said: “We’re looking forward to travelling to Wales later this week to compete in the Six Nations U18 Festival.

“We have three tough games and we’ll be aiming to make further progress following matches against Wales and England earlier this month.

“It’s a great opportunity for our players to play against top level opposition away from home and for us to build on what we’ve been working on.”

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Scotland recorded a famous win over England in the opening game of the U18 Six Nations Festival in Wales this afternoon.

Iain Monaghan’s side came from 27-10 behind to win 32-27 in an entertaining encounter at the Centre for Sporting Excellence in Ystrad Mynach.

Femi Sofolarin scored Scotland’s only try in the first-half and England led 15-5 at the break.

England increased their lead to 20-5 early in the second-half, before Jack Blain crossed to reduce the deficit (10-20).

Another converted try by England pushed them 27-10 ahead, before the Scotland comeback began.

Femi Sofolarin scored his second of the match and then centre Robbie McCallum also got in on the act, with his try converted by replacement Dan Lancaster. That made the score 27-22 to England.

With minutes remaining Blain raced up the touchline beating four defenders to cross at the corner, with Dan Lancaster converting his try to make it 29-27 to Scotland.

Lancaster then kicked a late penalty to secure a sensational 32-27 victory for Scotland. Winger Rufus McLean was named the Man of the Match. Scotland U18 play France U18 at Cardiff Arms Park on Wednesday (kick-off 5pm) before facing Ireland four days later.

Speaking to scottishrugby.org, Scotland Head Coach Iain Monaghan said: “Our boys have worked very hard since the defeat to England two weeks ago and did a lot of studying of the game.

They highlighted a couple of key points around defence which they

03/04/18 Scotland U18

Scotland U18 secured their second win of this year’s U18 Six Nations Festival with a gutsy performance against France U18.

Following their win over England U18 on Saturday the Scots went into the game at Cardiff Arms Park in confident mood, but it was France who got off to the perfect start.

France raced into a 10-0 lead and once again Scotland had to come from behind.

Full-back Rufus McLean got the first score, which was converted by fly-half Dan Lancaster.

Lancaster kicked a penalty after 31 minutes to level the scores (10-10) and then right on the stroke of half-time winger Jack Blain crossed for his third try in two games. Lancaster converted and Scotland led 17-10 at the break.

Scotland raced into a 24-10 lead thanks to a second try by McLean and conversion from Lancaster.

France hit back with a try and two penalties, but Scotland had done enough to secure the win and now play Ireland in their final game in Cardiff on Sunday afternoon.

Captain Connor Boyle was named Man of the Match.

Speaking to scottishrugby.org, Scotland U18 Head Coach Iain Monaghan said: “It was very windy, difficult conditions today and the boys tactically played that really well in the first-half into the wind and that probably set them up for the second-half.

“In the second-half a lot more pressure came on them and they didn’t lose sight of the objective and game plan in the second-half and defended well towards the end to secure the win.

“We made 11 changes today and the focus over the two games and the warm-ups was to play most of the players, so it now makes selection very difficult for Sunday’s game against Ireland.

“One of our key goals is to keep learning from the experiences we get and they are quite a tight bunch and the preperation has probably pulled them closer together.

“We’ll appraoch Sunday’s game like all the others, we’ll do our homework on Ireland and have a real good look at ourselves and the boys will be pretty disappointed in their second-half performance and will be wanting to make amends for that on Sunday.”

Scotland U18 19-17 Ireland U18

Scotland U18 Wales Festival Squad (29 March – 8 April 2018) Forwards Thomas Jeffrey * (Peebles) Mak Wilson * (Duns) Daniel Gamble * (Kelso / Merchiston Castle School) Alex Pleasants (The Henley College / Wasps) Rory Jackson (Edinburgh Academy) Scott Clelland* (Ayr) Cameron Henderson * (Strathallan School) Cameron Brown (Kelso) Jack Hill (Sedbergh School) Tom Morris (Dollar Academy) Archie Smeaton (Yorkshire Carnegie / Hymers College) Gavin Wilson* (Dumfries Saints) Connor Boyle* (Stewart’s Melville College / Stewart’s Meville RFC) Rory Darge* (Borders College / Melrose)

Backs Kristian Kay (Stowe School / Wasps) Jamie Dobie* (Merchiston Castle School) Nathan Chamberlain (Bristol / SGS College) Robbie McCallum* (Loretto School) Dan Lancaster (Yorkshire Carnegie / Bishop Burton College) Scott Robeson (George Heriot’s School) Paul Cunningham (George Watson’s College) Jack Blain* (Stewart’s Melville College / Stewarts Melville RFC) Matthew Currie (Merchiston Castle School) Rufus McLean (Merchiston Castle School) Charlie Hudson (St Peter’s, York) Femi Sofolarin (Dulwich College / Harlequins)

08/04/18 Scotland U18

Scotland U18 have come out on top against Ireland U18 to become the only unbeaten team at the U18 Six Nations Festival in Wales, having also recorded wins over England and France.

Iain Monaghan’s squad completed the treble this afternoon with a 19-17 win over Ireland at Cardiff Arms Park. Connor Boyle, Robbie McCallum and Alex Pleasants scored Scotland’s first-half tries, while Nathan Chamberlain kicked the points.

Scotland went into this afternoon’s game off the back of a 24-21 win over France at Cardiff Arms Park last Wednesday and an opening day 32-27 win over England in Ystrad Mynach last Saturday.

Scotland Head Coach Iain Monaghan said: “We asked them to give us a performance and they did that today, especially in defence.

“Where they were before Christmas to where they are now as people is testament to the work which has been done.

“They’ve had three great experiences against three different teams over the last 10 days and they have found themselves in different scenarios they wouldn’t normally face.

“The group will now kick on to the next stage of their development.”

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