Scotland U20 coach Sean Lineen. Pic: Getty Images.

Scotland’s Sean Lineen Left Flat By Five Star England At Cardiff Arms Park

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By James Skeldon

Scotland U20 head coach, Sean Lineen was disappointed with his team’s performance in their 31-12 loss to England in the second round of the Six Nations at Cardiff Arms Park.

Despite some spirited defence and impressive individual performances, they were outclassed by an organised and efficient performance from the Red Rose.

England ran in five tries including one from the outstanding, Sam Riley who was awarded man of the match for his efforts. The others came from captain Jack Van Poortvliet, Fin Smith, Deago Bailey and Arthur Relton.

Lineen felt that his team fell short and admitted: “There was a lot of naivety. It was really frustrating.

“It was summed up with the (disallowed) try at the end. There was some really good attacking work and a foot in touch.

“We made a few too many mistakes really and they punished us.”

 

There were some impressive individual performances from the Scotland team and Lineen highlighted the efforts of Murray Redpath and Christian Townsend.

He added: “They are really coachable, good lads.

“Murray’s been thrust into it and he’s done really well and he’s certainly not fazed by it. He’s got good skills. Christian had a good showing.”

“They’re learning the game. There are mistakes there, but what I really like about them is they just get on with it.”

Lineen praised his young half backs for their showing against top class opposite numbers who are both seasoned operators in the Gallagher Premiership.

“We’ve got Murray from Newcastle Uni and Euan Cuningham, who’s not really a 9, up against Jack Van Der Poortvliet, who’s starting for Leicester, and Raffi Quirke off the bench who’s starting for Sale.

“There’s a little bit of a difference there but they definitely got stuck in.”

The lengthy lay off from rugby has caused problems for the Scots on and off the field. Due to the pandemic, the players haven’t been together long as a group.

“They haven’t trained for so long,” said Lineen.

 

“There’s a lot to fix on the training pitch. We’re preparing okay but there are lots of mistakes in training as well.

“We need to get better. I know this group will but that’s the harsh reality of where we are.”

England head coach Alan Dickens said: “It was a fantastic effort from the players. After the French game we said there were areas we could improve and I think there are things we could improve going into the Ireland game but we’re really pleased with the result.

“The boys did really well to stick in today. When we were down to 13 men I thought the character they showed was outstanding.”

Scotland captain Ben Muncaster was disappointed with what he described as a “winnable” match. He also highlighted how his team aren’t getting it quite right on the training pitch but is optimistic about the rest of the tournament.

“In training, we’re just not setting standards high enough,” he said. “These little dropped balls, these little bits of inaccuracies, they’re completely mendable.

“The players, they’re good enough, we just need to have higher standards for ourselves in training and on the pitch.

 

Looking forward to their match against Italy, Muncaster is keen to get back to winning ways but is also cautious about the threat the Italian team will pose.

“You can never underestimate them. They’ve got so much passion and they’re a very, very good side. We’ll have to go full guns blazing.”

Muncaster had an impressive performance against England and is relishing the chance to represent and captain his country.

“It’s an absolute honour. When Sean told me I was overwhelmed and I got pretty emotional.

“It’s a bit bittersweet because that was a winnable match. Alex (Samuel) has been a good captain. It was a great experience and I’ll learn a lot.”

 

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