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BT Academy Finals

BT Academy Finals

Hugh Barrow14 Aug 2017 - 17:27
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Roundup of the action

BT Sport Academy Finals

Scotland’s top young rugby talent went head-to-head at the home of Scottish Rugby yesterday Sunday (13 August) at BT Sport Academy Finals Day.

The action-packed day was the culmination of the 22-match regional series, played across the country, saw 16 teams compete across eight fixtures for end-of-series glory.

U16 Final: Caledonia 64-31 Glasgow & the West
Caledonia wing Ross McKnight [right] scored five of his side's ten tries to help bring the curtain down on on a fine night for the region with a dominant 64-31 win over Glasgow & the West.

Four of McKnight's five came in a blistering first-half that saw his efforts accompanied by two further Caledonia scores from centre Michael Gray and replacement Angus Fraser.

Glasgow scored two in response to Caledonia's seven, number 8 Ruaridh Airlie and wing Peter Keenan on the scoresheet, to give a 40-12 scoreline at the break.

The second-half saw far greater pariety between the sides, though Caledonia still outscored their opponents four tries to three: Caledonia replacements Peter Wallwork and Thomas Glendinning, McKnight and Gray all scoring, with Glasgow's response finished by industrious hooker Thomas McGuire, lock John Paterson and a second from Keenan (64-31)

U18 Final: Caledonia 49-20 Glasgow & the West
Powerhouse wing Jordan Miller [right] registered a hat-trick as Caledonia won the BT Sport Academy U18 Final with a convincing seven-try win over Glasgow & the West (49-20).

Glasgow opened the scoring thanks to a cracking snipe and sprint from scrum-half Luhann Kotze to go 0-5 into the lead.

Centre Angus Vipond then pulled three points back from the kicking tee before orchetrating his side's first try with a fine flat pass out wide to Miller who used his power and pace to attract two defenders before deftly passing back inside to number 8, Cameron Keys, to crash over.

Vipond added the extras (10-5).

Miller would soon be rewarded for his earlier generosity however when he scored a brace of tries either side of a Glasgow penalty, the second coming as a result of some fantastic work by back-row Yanick Sutcliffe who rode a tackle superbly before offloading wide to Miller (20-8).

A pair of Glasgow tries from wing Mitchell Wylie and hooker Stuart Ferguson sandwiched a fourth from Caledonia after the break, this time it would be stand-off Lachlan Kelly who would profit from a fine Miller break to score a try later converted by Vipond (27-20).

It was here that the Caledonia squad hit top gear with the ever-impressive Sutcliffe adding a try to an explosive showing throughout, Mlller completed his hatrick and Vipond added a try to a quality showing where he continually brought players into the game as second distributer (49-20).

U20 Final: Glasgow & the West v The Borders & East Lothian
Glasgow & the West won the the BT Sport Academy U20 final with a dominant, nine-try win over Borders & East Lothian (52-19).

The pack power of the men from the west was telling however the backs were equally lethal, repaying the hardyards earned up front with some scintilating play out wide.

Glasgow front-row forwards Robbie Smith and tighthead prop Ewan Rintoul earned an early 10-point lead before the Borders hit back through number 8 Ruairi Campbell who raced on to a loose ball on the half way, kicking the ball on twice at pace - which he had in spades - to win the race with the covering winger to collect the ball score one of the tries of the day.

Scrum-half Gary Munro converted to narrow the score to 10-7 before Glasgow responded twice, through hooker Smith and stand-off Paddy Dewhirst to make life more comfortable for their side at the break (25-7).

The second-half was a much more one-sided affair with Glasgow's slick back division registering a further five tries - Sam Yawayawa, Gregor Paxton, Matt Davidson (2) [right] and a second from Dewhirst - to the Borders' two, both of which came from centre Patrick Anderson - who despite a yellow card against his name - was impressive throughout.

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