Three Borderers named in Scotland matchday squad to take on England in rugby’s Under-20 Six Nations

Melrose’s Rudi Brown, currently on the books of his home-town’s Fosroc Super6 side, Southern Knights, will play at openside flanker and Hawick’s Corey Tait, with Edinburgh’s Boroughmuir Bears these days, will start at hooker.

Lauder’s Sam Derrick, a team-mate of Brown at Southern Knights, will be among the replacements.

The young Scots go into their tournament opener at London’s Twickenham Stoop as underdogs, having lost 14 games in a row at their age grade at the last two U20 Six Nations and a summer series in Italy in 2022.

Head coach Kenny Murray is determined to give the English a run for their money, though, saying: “Ultimately it is 15 people against 15 people.

“We know England are going to back themselves against us, but our theme this year is about fighting for every inch.

“Playing against England is always an exciting way to begin the Six Nations, and the whole team are looking forward to giving their all at the Twickenham Stoop.

“We’ve learnt a lot from our campaign last year and the guys have been working hard to implement those lessons in training to make sure we can walk away with a result we are proud of.

“It’ll take a great amount of physicality and determination from the team to walk away with a victory, and I’m sure the players have it in them.”

Making up the rest of the Scottish starting XV, co-captained by blindside flanker Liam McConnell and outside centre Duncan Munn, are Dan King, William Robinson, Kerr Yule, Amena Caqusau, Richie Simpson, ex-Southern Knights scrum-half Ben Afshar, Max Surry, Callum Norrie, Jake Parkinson, Harris McLeod and Jonny Morris.

Joining Derrick on the substitutes’ bench are Jerry Blyth-Lafferty, Craig Davidson, Moby Ogunlaja, Eddie Erskine, Ruaraidh Hart, Finlay Burgess and Geordie Gwynn.

Kick-off is at 7pm and the game is being streamed live on BBC iPlayer.