Under-20s misery for Chiefs duo

There was disappointment for Exeter Chiefs duo Joe Simmonds and Billy Keast on their Six Nations debuts for the England Under-20s.

Up against Scotland at Cumbernauld, last season’s champions went down 24-6 in their opening fixture of the campaign.

Scotland led 12-6 at the break with tries from full back Blair Kinghorn in the corner and Murray McCallum under the posts.

Fly-half Simmonds kicked two penalties for England – who also lost captain Jack Walker to the sin bin on the stroke of half time.

The hosts then scored 12 unanswered points as forwards Scott Cummings and Matt Smith both bundled over, while Kinghorn added to his first-half conversion to take his personal tally to nine.

It was a first-ever victory over England for Scotland’s Under-20s sidem who had failed to win in 11 previous attempts and was also the first time they had won four games in a row at that level.

The scrum was a huge area of success for England on an otherwise disappointing night and Head Coach Jon Callard (pictured) said his side were guilty of not playing to their strengths.

“Scotland were hungry and credit to them for the way they played - they were committed and forced errors," he said.

"We had a lot of possession but they capitalised on our mistakes and the more the game went on, the more we chased it, and the more Scotland fed off that.

“I thought our scrum was excellent and we should have played on that more.  Our line out was also winning us good ball but our driving play wasn’t where it should be and we were too often disjointed.

“I’ve got great belief in this young group of players. We’ve been in this situation before and bounced back and now we need to see this as an opportunity to do that again. We need to dust ourselves off, regroup and move forwards into the rest of the Championship.”