Scotland Under-20s eye England repeat after historic win over Australia

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Darcy Graham (right) celebrates his winning try against AustraliaImage source, PA
Image caption,

Scotland celebrate Darcy Graham's (right) winning try against Australia

Scotland Under-20s face a "huge" match against England on Saturday after claiming a historic first win over Australia at the World Championship.

The Scots, who beat England for the first time in this year's Six Nations, meet their rivals in Manchester.

Tries from Zander Fagerson and Darcy Graham, plus a penalty and conversion from Adam Hastings, secured a 15-10 Pool B victory over 14-man Australia.

"This is really special result," said Scotland coach John Dalziel.

Pool B fixtures & results

7 June

11 June

15 June

Australia 10-15 Scotland

Australia v Italy (13:30 BST)

Scotland v Italy (15:15)

England v Scotland (18:00)

England v Australia (19:45)

"I'm really pleased for the boys as they've put in so much work and it's great to get it under the belt at this stage of the tournament.

"We've now got a huge four-day turnaround and a lot of work to do before the England game. But we'll have two or three guys who are fresh and others who were replacements tonight."

England beat Italy in their opening game and the winners of Saturday's match at Manchester City's Academy Stadium at 18:00 BST could secure their place in the semi-finals.

Scotland flanker Lewis Wynn was carried off after only five minutes following an accidental collision but opened the scoring with a penalty from Hastings, son of Scotland legend Gavin.

But after a last-ditch tackle from Edinburgh full-back Blair Kinghorn prevented a try, Australia's Isack Rodda crossed for a converted score to put Australia 7-3 up at half-time.

Image source, PA
Image caption,

Wing Ben Robbins epitomised Scotland's defensive resolve with this tackle on Simon Kennewell

Wallabies centre Campbell Magney was sent off for a second yellow card four minutes into the second half.

They profited when a driving maul was finished off by Fagerson, the Glasgow tight-head who made his Scotland senior debut in the Six Nations.

Hastings missed the conversion, but made no mistake when Graham's darting run outpaced the Australia defence for the clinching try.

"Sometimes when you have the man advantage, you start to think the job is done, but we showed a lot of character in that position," said Dalziel.

"Australia threw a lot at us in the last 10 minutes, but the character was there and I felt comfortable with our defence."

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