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SCRUM magazine features Scott Cummings

SCRUM magazine features Scott Cummings

Hugh Barrow4 Jun 2016 - 06:32
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Views ahead of Opening match v Australia

As Scotland finish their preparations for the 2016 World Rugby under-20 Championship, in the less-than-salubrious surroundings of Manchester, skipper Scott Cummings gave an insight into how he and the team fared at last year’s tournament in Italy: “It was quite a shock going to the World Championship last year, in terms of the media coverage and hype around the tournament, and that was my first taste of playing in bigger stadiums and in front of bigger crowds, and playing against other teams – the likes of Australia and Argentina, who we played last year – who play different styles of rugby.

“It’s a chance to play different teams who you haven’t played before, and may not get the chance to play again. They play different brands of rugby and we’ll get to experience that.

“Sometimes you think about other teams, but most of the time we think that we’re a good team, too, and we have to be confident in what our team is doing. You have to believe that you can go out there and compete with other teams.”

After a strong 6 Nations campaign, during which Scotland routed England en route to finishing fourth, hope springs that John Dalziel’s men can continue their improvement in a group containing those same opponents as well as Australia and Italy: “It’s been great for us {Scotland under-20] this season, as there’s a fair number of players who have played some Guinness PRO12 and [Aviva] Premiership rugby, and with the [BT Sport Scottish Rugby] Academy being set-up this year, the players have been able to play and train with each other a lot more. It also gives us a lot more time to get to know each other, and learn the way each other play – the Academy has definitely helped us this year.

“It’s been a very exciting year for me. It was something I didn’t expect – I came out of last year’s under-20 very tired, came into the start of the Glasgow season and with a lot of the players being away, got an opportunity on one of the pre-season tours, and from there didn’t expect to be picked to start in that first game. From there I got a good few games at the start of the season, which I was really happy with, and felt it has given me a lot of experience which I now can bring on and will make me more confident coming into tournaments like this.

“One of the team’s goals is to become a world class team, and make Scotland known as world class, so we want to go out and play opposition to the best of our ability and the best we can and when we had that England game, we came in as underdogs, but had the belief and that’s something we want to have through every game – the belief that we can go out and play well and compete against other oppositions.

“We’re taking it one game at a time. We’re just looking at that Australia game and looking at putting in the best performance we can.”

Scotland’s foray into the tournament starts on June 7 against Australia, before games with England on June 11 and the Italians on June 15.

SCRUM will have reaction from every Scotland match, including the knockout stages as Cummings et al attempt to better last year’s eighth place finish.

Further reading