Anyone wanting to catch a glimpse of the future of British rugby should look no further than last night’s Scotland–England clash at the junior rugby world cup in Italy.
There was Owen Farrell at fly-half for England, the brilliant 19-year-old Saracens number ten who took his team to the Aviva Premiership title against Leicester last month.
Against him was Scotland fly-half Duncan Weir (he turned 20 just last month), who was nominated for Magners League try of the season in his first full term for Glasgow Warriors last year.
Wind forward two or three years – at least until the 2015 World Cup – and these two players should be battling it out against each other in their full national colours, not at the junior world cup. In fact, there are those who believe both should at least be in their respective full World Cup squads for the tournament in New Zealand in September and even starting for their countries, such is their skill and form.
England won the game by the convincing margin of 39–18, but the game was anything like as one-sided as that. Going into the last ten minutes, Scotland were only 25–18 down and the Scots had the momentum.
If one pass had gone to hand, after a tremendous break down the left by winger Kerr Gossman, Scotland might have levelled it and gone on to win. But the pass was spilled, Scotland became increasingly desperate – running everything from deep – and as a result started making mistakes. England capitalised, scoring two late tries to seal victory.
If anything, Weir could be criticised for trying too hard. The Scotland captain probably has more Magners League experience than the rest of his team put together. As a result, he tried to do everything: breaking from deep, beating his opposite number, tackling back and releasing his backs.
This was a pity because, when he did trust his outside backs, they showed genuine class, particularly in midfield where outside centre Mark Bennett was a revelation.
Fierce in the tackle and hard going forward, the 18-year-old Bennett has pace, a good eye for the gap and a lovely pass, particularly out of the tackle. On this form, it is no wonder that the former Ayr player has been snapped up by Clermont Auvergne.
Scotland do not have a habit of producing classy centres – but, if Bennett continues in this form, he will soon be hard to ignore for the full Scotland side. Indeed, it is difficult to think of a better all-round Scottish centre playing the game today. He doesn’t have the bulk and gain-line crash of Graeme Morrison, nor the outright speed of Max Evans, but he has the distribution skills and ability to spot a gap that would embarrass both of his more experienced colleagues.
The two Scottish tries were fabulous, off-loading efforts that came from exploiting half chances presented by the English defence. On both occasions, a slight break was developed by passing out of the tackle and then using excellent supporting runners to get over the line, the first by scrum-half Sean Kennedy and the second by Gossman after good work by full-back Glenn Bryce.
As in the South Africa game, which Scotland lost 33–0, the Scots suffered up front. The Scottish pack worked extremely hard but were worn down by their bigger, more experienced opponents.
England, with Farrell kicking expertly for his outside backs and with two electric wingers in Marland Yarde and Christian Wade, were just too good.
But there were some extremely encouraging signs for the young Scots. Weir can control a game well and play to a team’s strengths – and, in Bennett, Scotland have a potential world-class centre in the making.
The young Scots have already performed better this time than they did in the junior Six Nations or in the last junior world championships. But they have Ireland to face on Saturday. Victory then, although extremely difficult, would be no more than they deserve.
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