Latest news with #FreddyDouglas
Scotsman
04-07-2025
- Sport
- Scotsman
Galling end for Scotland Under-20s as they let slip winning position against 14 men
Australia finish strongly to deny Scots at World Rugby U20 Championship Sign up to our Rugby Union newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Scotland Under-20s let slip a winning position against 14 men in the final quarter as they lost 34-24 to Australia in the World Rugby Under-20 Championship in Italy. Kenny Murray's side at least earned a four-try bonus point - but it should have been more. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Oliver Duncan's second try of the game put the young Scots 24-17 ahead in the 62nd minute and, with Aussie sub Joey Fowler in the sin-bin, things were looking positive. But Scotland conceded three tries in the final 15 minutes, two of them while they had a one-man advantage. Scotland co-captain Freddy Douglas impressed throughout against Australia and scored a first-half try. | World Rugby It was a galling end to the game in the scorching heat of Viadana and leaves Scotland with the daunting prospect of playing South Africa in their final Pool A game on Wednesday. The Scots lost their opening match 56-19 to England while the Aussies were crushed 73-17 by the junior Springboks so this felt like both sides' best chance of a group-stage victory. It was the young Wallabies who prevailed, which was tough to take for Scotland's returning co-captain Freddy Douglas who scored a try and impressed throughout. He blamed his side's ill discipline. 'Sort out the discipline' 'Our defence was good, we were folding, we were getting numbers but we would leave one in the ruck, or we'd go high or go offside,' said Douglas. 'If we can sort out our discipline… It gave them easy ins and that's what won them it. For multiple phases of that game we were completely the better team.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The sides matched each other for most of the first half and Scotland were unlucky to go in at the break 17-10 behind. The Aussies drew first blood thanks to the quick thinking James Martens who scored from a tap and go after Scotland had been penalised at the scrum. Douglas drew the Scots level from a well worked lineout maul involving Dan Halkon and Reuben Logan but the junior Wallabies came straight back, with Nick Conway tearing down the left wing to score. Douglas was proving a menace in the loose and one particularly impressive steal helped push Scotland into the Aussie danger zone. They managed to spin it out wide and Kerr Yule's miss-pass found Duncan on the left wing who squared things up at 10-10. Scotland scrum-half Hector Patterson clears against Australia. | World Rugby Matthew Urwin, the Scottish stand-off, hit each post with his two conversion attempts and there was further bad luck for Murray's team before the half was out. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Australia got their noses in front again when hooker Lipina Ata dived over and it was a little too easy from a Scottish perspective. Sid Harvey's conversion made it 17-10 but the Scots thought they had drawn level five minutes before the interval only for the try to be chalked off. Jed Findlay, on his debut, 'scored' in the corner but Fergus Watson had knocked on in the build-up. Drama in final quarter Findlay responded in exactly the right way and got the try his performance deserved five minutes into the second half. Urwin made it 17-17. Then came the yellow card. Fowler made head contact with Duncan as he attempted a ruck clearout, leaving the Aussies with 14 men going into the final quarter. The Scots quickly took advantage, with Duncan forcing his way over for the bonus-point try. It was the first time Scotland had led and Isaac Coates' impressive conversion from out wide made it 24-17. Australia were not done, though, and showed impressive resolve, scoring tries through scrum-half Martens - his second - and Finn Baxter to wrest back control, making it 29-24 while Fowler was in the bin. Will Guilfoyle added a sixth try for the Aussies when they were back to their full complement and there was no way back for the Scots. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Teams and scorers Scorers: Australia U20: Tries: Martens 2, Conway, Ata, Baxter, Guilfoyle. Cons: Harvey 2. Scotland U20: Tries: Douglas, Duncan 2, Findlay. Cons: Urwin, Coates. Yellow card: Joey Fowler (Aus, 60min) Scotland U20: 15. Jed Findlay (Exeter); 14. Cameron van Wyk (Ayr), 13. Johnny Ventisei (Glasgow; co-capt), 12. Kerr Yule (Glasgow), 11. Fergus Watson (Glasgow); 10. Matthew Urwin (Glasgow), 9. Hector Patterson (Edinburgh); 1. Oliver McKenna (Glasgow), 2. Joe Roberts (Glasgow), 3. Ollie Blyth-Lafferty (Edinburgh), 4. Dylan Cockburn (Melrose), 5. Dan Halkon (Glasgow), 6. Oliver Duncan (Edinburgh), 7. Freddy Douglas (Edinburgh; co-capt), 8. Reuben Logan (Northampton).
Scotsman
03-07-2025
- Sport
- Scotsman
Freddy Douglas returns as Scotland Under-20s take on wounded Wallabies
Inclusion of full international is one of six changes Sign up to our Rugby Union newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The concession of too many soft tries was Scotland Under-20s' downfall in their 56-19 defeat by England in the World Rugby U20 Championship opener in Italy on Sunday and head coach Kenny Murray has rung the changes for their second game, against Australia on Friday. It is a quick turnaround for the young Scots who played in strength-sapping conditions in Verona on Sunday where the temperature was in the mid-30s. It is likely to be the same again in Viadana against the junior Wallabies who are licking their wounds after losing their first match 73-17 to South Africa. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Murray called it 'an interesting result' and is well aware of the formidable strength in Pool A as Scotland return to the elite tournament after an absence of six years. Scotland U20s' Freddy Douglas returns to the team for the game against Australia. | SNS Group / SRU 'I think everyone knows England and South Africa are going to be pretty strong teams in this competition,' he said. 'If you're able to put 73 points on Australia then you're obviously a good side. We've got Australia next so we'll see how we get on against them and then we'll need to play South Africa in that last game in the pool.' Scotland will play two classification games after the pool phase but with the tournament expanding next year from 12 to 16 teams, the threat of relegation has been lifted. 'We've reviewed the England game and we know we gave them too many soft tries, which you can't do at this level,' said Murray. 'The players have recovered well, and the energy has been good this week.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The Scots are able to call upon Freddy Douglas to face the Aussies. The full international openside missed the England game because of concussion but returns to co-captain Scotland with centre Johnny Ventisei. The other changes see Exeter Chiefs' Jed Findlay come in at full-back for Jack Brown for his Scotland U20 debut; Cameron van Wyk replaces Nairn Moncrieff on the right wing; Hector Patterson, a try-scorer after coming on against England, starts at scrum-half, with Noah Cowan, also a try-scorer on Sunday, reverting to the bench. In the pack, Oliver McKenna and Dylan Cockburn come in at loosehead prop and lock, replacing Jake Shearer and Bart Godsell, respectively. Scotland Under-20 team to play Australia U20 in World Rugby U20 Championship, at Stadio Luigi Zaffanella, Viadana, on Friday, 2.30pm BST. Live on RugbyPassTV: 15. Jed Findlay (Exeter); 14. Cameron van Wyk (Ayr), 13. Johnny Ventisei (Glasgow; co-capt), 12. Kerr Yule (Glasgow), 11. Fergus Watson (Glasgow); 10. Matthew Urwin (Glasgow), 9. Hector Patterson (Edinburgh); 1. Oliver McKenna (Glasgow), 2. Joe Roberts (Glasgow), 3. Ollie Blyth-Lafferty (Edinburgh), 4. Dylan Cockburn (Melrose), 5. Dan Halkon (Glasgow), 6. Oliver Duncan (Edinburgh), 7. Freddy Douglas (Edinburgh; co-capt), 8. Reuben Logan (Northampton).
Scotsman
21-06-2025
- Climate
- Scotsman
'Sweat on the floor' - Freddy Douglas on Scotland U20s' plan to beat the heat at World Championships
Squad for searing temperatures and high class opposition as they return to top table Sign up to our Rugby Union newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Playing rugby in a heatwave is a tough proposition for a bunch of peely-wally Scots but the national under-20 squad have been preparing for such an eventuality with the help of some high-end technology at the University of the West of Scotland. The players have been training in a heat chamber ahead of the World Rugby U20 Championships which begins in Italy next Sunday. Scotland face a fiendishly difficult draw - they're up against England, Australia and South Africa in the group stage - and it will be made even tougher by the fact that the games kick off in the afternoon when temperatures are expected to be around 35 degrees. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The bespoke chambers at the Lanarkshire campus replicate environmental extremes, from heat and humidity to altitude, and the young Scots have been sweating it out on exercise bikes to prepare for their opening match against defending champions England in Verona. Freddy Douglas scored a stunning try for Scotland Under-20s against France in the U20 Six Nations match at Stade Jean-Bouin in Paris in March. | SNS Group / SRU 'You're basically in this wee room with watt bikes, and the temperature is raised to about 35, 40 degrees and then you just go through this gruelling watt bike session, and I've never sweated so much in my life,' said Freddy Douglas, the Edinburgh prodigy, who has been named Scotland's co-captain for the tournament alongside Glasgow's Johnny Ventisei. 'You get to the end of it, it literally looks like the room's flooded, there's just so much sweat on the floor, it's crazy.' It has been a punishing schedule but head coach Kenny Murray makes no apologies for pushing his players. Scotland are back in the top-tier tournament for the first time since relegation six years ago and there is a determination to stay there. They secured promotion last summer by winning the second-tier World Rugby U20 Trophy tournament on home turf in Edinburgh but this is a huge step up, a point Murray is keen to impress upon his players. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'It was a great success last summer winning the junior World Trophy but it's a completely different challenge now against the teams we're playing,' said the coach. Captain Liam McConnell lifts the World Rugby U20 Trophy last summer after Scotland beat USA in the final in Edinburgh. | SNS Group / SRU 'This is where we want to be. We want to be competing against the better teams in the world. We want to get tested against England, South Africa and Australia. We've worked hard to get here and now it's about going out and really experiencing it and doing our best.' The heatwave that has engulfed most of western Europe only adds to the degree of difficulty and Murray plans to use his whole squad over the course of the tournament. 'All of our kick-offs are at 3.30 in the afternoon, so that provides an extra challenge,' said Murray. 'We've got five-day turnarounds, against England, Australia and South Africa. We need to manage the squad, we need to make sure that we use the 30 players we've got available to us. Touch wood we don't get any injuries, but if we do, we need these guys on standby ready to come in. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'We've had four heat chamber sessions at the University of West of Scotland in Hamilton. We've managed to train at 35 degrees and humidity between 70 and 80 per cent. We've had our rugby training at Ravenscraig during the day then at the end of the day, we've gone to the heat chambers to do some extra fitness sessions. I'm sure we'll get the benefit of that when we get out to Italy.' Freddy Douglas training with the Scotland U20 squad. | Scottish Rugby Murray's squad will also have the benefit of being able to call upon Douglas. The openside won a full cap in the autumn, coming on against Portugal at Murrayfield to become Scotland's youngest male debutant in 60 years, but Gregor Townsend resisted the temptation to include him in his senior squad for the summer tour games against Maori All Blacks, Fiji and Samoa. Instead, Douglas will continue his education with the under-20s. He was part of the Trophy-winning squad last summer but missed the start of this season's U20 Six Nations through injury. He returned for the games against England, Wales and France, and made a sizeable contribution with three tries, including a stunning solo effort in the 45-40 defeat in Paris. Freddy Douglas is congratulated on his Scotland debut by head coach Gregor Townsend after he made his bow against Portugal at Murrayfield on November 16, 2024. | SNS Group / SRU It has been a whirlwind season for the 20-year-old who made his senior Scotland bow before he had even played for Edinburgh. He followed up his first cap with a man-of-the-match performance for Scotland A in the win over Chile before making his debut for Edinburgh in a victory over Benetton in Italy. Injury hampered his progress soon after but he came back strongly in the U20 Six Nations and that try in Paris was likened to Jonah Lomu but an excited French press. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'To be honest if someone had said to me at this time last year I'd have had this season I wouldn't believe them, it's all been a bit crazy, it all happened so fast,' he said. 'I've not really had a chance to properly look back and reflect on it all, but I'm just very happy and very proud of where I'm at at the moment.' Scotland warmed up for the U20 Worlds with an encouraging win over Ireland in Belfast but Douglas is under no illusion about the scale of the task awaiting them in Italy. 'Obviously it is a tough pool, England, South Africa are all class teams, but I think going into every game we're underdogs which is kind of, well for me anyway, a good mentality, because it means a lot of times people underestimate you,' said the local Edinburgh boy who came through the ranks at Stewart's Melville College. 'It'll be good for our mentality. It means we've got nothing to lose, we can just go full momentum.' This will be his final championship at under-20 level and Douglas intends to leave the squad in a good place. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Douglas & Ventisei to co-captain Scotland at U20 Championship
Freddy Douglas and Johnny Ventisei will co-captain Scotland at the upcoming World Rugby Under-20 Championship in Italy. Having led the team during this year's Under-20 Six Nations, Edinburgh's Douglas and Glasgow Warriors' Ventisei will fulfil the same leadership roles this summer. Advertisement Nineteen of the 30-man squad are made up of Edinburgh (10) and Glasgow (nine) players. Three of the squad have made debuts for Scottish professional sides in the past season as Douglas, who earned a senior Scotland cap last autumn, and Jack Brown featured for Edinburgh in the URC while Seb Stephen recently made his Glasgow bow away to Leinster. Scotland will play England on 29 June, Australia on 4 July and South Africa on 9 July in the group stages of the competition. Head coach Kenny Murray said: "We've had a long preparation block with a wider squad and a really strong group to pick from. Advertisement "The group took some confidence from beating Ireland in the friendly last week, but there was also plenty for us to work on and we know we'll have to be better in the Championship. "The group-stage fixtures will obviously be tough, but we've trained well and the opportunity is there for the players to put in 80-minute performances that really show what we're capable of."
BBC News
19-06-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Douglas & Ventisei to co-captain Scotland at U20 Championship
Freddy Douglas and Johnny Ventisei will co-captain Scotland at the upcoming World Rugby Under-20 Championship in led the team during this year's Under-20 Six Nations, Edinburgh's Douglas and Glasgow Warriors' Ventisei will fulfil the same leadership roles this of the 30-man squad are made up of Edinburgh (10) and Glasgow (nine) of the squad have made debuts for Scottish professional sides in the past season as Douglas, who earned a senior Scotland cap last autumn, and Jack Brown featured for Edinburgh in the URC while Seb Stephen recently made his Glasgow bow away to will play England on 29 June, Australia on 4 July and South Africa on 9 July in the group stages of the coach Kenny Murray said: "We've had a long preparation block with a wider squad and a really strong group to pick from."The group took some confidence from beating Ireland in the friendly last week, but there was also plenty for us to work on and we know we'll have to be better in the Championship."The group-stage fixtures will obviously be tough, but we've trained well and the opportunity is there for the players to put in 80-minute performances that really show what we're capable of."
