Scotland secured promotion to the World Rugby U-20 Championship in 2025 with a 48-10 victory over the USA in the second-tier U-20 Trophy at the Hive Stadium in Edinburgh.
Kenny Murray’s team were far from their best on a sunny night at the Hives Stadium in Edinburgh but still managed to outplay the Junior All-Americans and book a place in next year’s elite international age-group rugby team.
The hosts are just the second country to win the U20 Trophy in 14 tournaments, after the United States in 2012.
Scotland were relegated from the U-20 Championship in 2019, losing to Uruguay in the pool stages, meaning they will not be able to return immediately to the next competition in 2023.
It was an experience they would never want to repeat, but they got the job done, scoring eight tries thanks to a late scoring spree from their hard-working forwards.
Scotland have arguably been the best team in recent weeks and anything other than a fourth consecutive victory looked all but impossible after the home side took the lead after ninth minutes through lock Euan McVey.
A tenacious U.S. defense that had stymied countless missed chances inside the U.S. 22 line kept the score at 5-0 until center Johnny Bentisay found an opening, charged in and scored in the 27th minute.
Scotland were thoroughly dominating from set pieces and looked set to score more goals before the break, when after a number of blocked pick-and-go attempts, number eight Tom Curry smashed in from close range to make the score 17-0.
The USA remained on the back foot for much of the second half, despite Corbin Smith scoring the first point from a kicking tee after the restart, before hooker Gerry Bryce-Lafferty scored two tries and fellow front-rower McVeagh scored two more to complete his hat-trick as Scotland began to turn their advantage into points.
Scotland fell just short of 50 but replacement back Kerr Yule added another before the time expired.
In a rare attacking move, Oliver Klein found Kieran Farrell with a precise kick and the winger scored his seventh try of the tournament to give the USA the deciding chance in the match.
Three-time champions Japan had their promotion hopes ended by a loss to Scotland in the pool stages but finished third with a 73-22 win over 2023 Trophy runners-up Uruguay.
Meanwhile, the Netherlands’ debut in the World Rugby U-20 Trophy saw them beat Samoa 46-29 to finish in an impressive fifth place, while Hong Kong defeated Kenya 34-14 to end a 12-game losing streak in the tournament.