Murray rings the changes after rout

HEAD COACH Kenny Murray has made 10 changes to his Scotland Under-20 side that will face Hong Kong China in their second World Rugby U20 Trophy match today.

Only captain Liam McConnell, his back-row colleague Freddy Douglas and prop Robbie Deans retain their places in the pack from the record 123-15 win over Samoa on Tuesday.

That means Seb Stephen, Callum Norrie, Dylan Cockburn, Ruaraidh Hart and Jonny Morris all come into the team.

Hooker Stephen will pack down either side of loosehead Deans and incoming Norrie, while Cockburn and Hart make up an entirely new second row. The introduction of Morris at No.8 completes the forward changes.

Behind the scrum, Hector Patterson and Matthew Urwin form a new half-back pairing, while Kerr Yule joins the retained Johnny Ventisei in the midfield.

Finlay Doyle, who scored three of Scotland’s 19 tries in the rout of Samoa, again starts on the right wing, and is joined by Ludo Kolade.

Another try scorer against Samoa, Jack Hocking, starts at full-back.

“With the nature of this tournament and the short turnaround between matches, it is important that we are able to use the full squad and that everyone can step up,” Murray said.

“While we were delighted with our win on Tuesday, we know that we can still perform better as a team and Sunday gives us an opportunity to do that.

“Hong Kong China will provide us with another good test and give us an opportunity to play a team and style of rugby that we haven’t faced before, which is exciting for this group.”

Scotland Under-20s: Jack Hocking, Finlay Doyle, Johnny Ventisei, Kerr Yule, Ludo Kolade, Matthew Urwin, Hector Patterson: Robbie Deans, Seb Stephen, Callum Norrie, Dylan Cockburn, Ruaraidh Hart, Liam McConnell, Freddy Douglas, Jonny Morris. Replacements: Jerry BlythLafferty, Ben White, Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, Ryan Burke, Tom Currie, Conor McAlpine, Andrew McLean, Fergus Watson