Scotland win promotion back to World Rugby U20 Championship

Scotland have secured promotion back to the World Rugby U20 Championship in 2025 after winning the second-tier U20 Trophy at Hive Stadium, Edinburgh with a 48-10 victory against USA.

Kenny Murray’s side were far from their best on a sunny evening at Hive Stadium in Edinburgh but they were still too powerful for the Junior All-Americans as they secured their place amongst international age-grade rugby’s elite next year.

They become only the second host nation in 14 U20 Trophy tournaments to claim the title, after the United States in 2012.

Scotland were relegated from the U20 Championship in 2019 and failed to make an immediate return at the next tournament in 2023 after a defeat to Uruguay in the pool stages.

It was an experience they didn’t want to repeat and they got the job done, scoring eight tries thanks a late flurry of scoring from their hard-working forwards.

Scotland have been unquestionably the best team on show over the last couple of weeks and anything another other than a fourth straight win seemed highly improbable as soon as the hosts opened the scoring in the ninth minute through lock Euan McVie.

Countless missed opportunities inside the USA 22 and dogged rearguard defence from the under-the-cosh Americans kept the score at 5-0 until the 27th minute when centre Johnny Ventisei found a hole and burst clear to score.

Scotland were totally dominant in the set-piece and a further score before half-time had a sense of inevitability about it, No.8 Tom Currie crashing over from close range after a series of pick-and-goes had been repelled, to make it 17-0.

USA remained on the back foot for the majority of the second half, despite Corbin Smith scoring the first points after the restart from the kicking tee, and a brace of tries from hooker Jerry Blyth-Lafferty and two more from fellow front-rower, McVie, who completed a hat-trick, saw Scotland start to turn their dominance into points.

Replacement back Kerr Yule added another before time was up as Scotland fell just short of a half-century.

In a rare attack, USA had the final say in the match after Oliver Kline found Keelan Farrell with a pinpoint kick and the winger dotted down for his seventh try of the tournament.

Former three-time champions Japan, whose own promotion hopes were dashed by Scotland in the pool stages, finished third after a 73-22 win over 2023 Trophy runners-up Uruguay

Meanwhile, the Netherlands’ debut campaign in the World Rugby U20 Trophy ended with a fine fifth-place finish, as they beat Samoa 46-29, while Hong Kong China got the better of Kenya 34-14, as they ended their 12-game losing run in the competition.