SCOTLAND UNDER-20s ran their New Zeland counterparts close in their opening game of the 2017 World Championship before going down 42-20 in Georgia.
John Dalziel’s team were only nine points behind at the break as tries from Hawick’s Fraser Renwick and Edinburgh’s Darcy Graham left them 19-10 down. New Zealand’s tries came from Tima Faingaanuku, Asafo Aumua and Faingaanuku again.
Scotland were sharp after the interval and Wasps’ Conor Eastgate kicked a penalty to reduce the scores. But Tiaan Falcon scored a penalty for the ‘Baby Blacks’, before back-row Dalton Papalii added his side’s third try of the game to make it 13-27.
And Scotland contributed to their own downfall as an error allowed Orbyn Leger to race home for another try.
There was further misery for the Dark Blues when a try was denied by the TMO after a driving maul collpased over the New Zealand tryline. The Kiwis were reduced to 14 in the process as Papalii was shown a yellow-card for an offence at the contact.
Scotland were given hope, however, as Edinburgh’s Blair Kinghorn offloaded to Glasgow Warriors’ Josh Henderson to score a third try for Scotland.
Faingaanuku finished off the scoring with another try.
