Fife student named in Scotland squad for this summer’s under-20 rugby world championship
Scotland under-20s head coach Fergus Pringle has named Fife student Oliver Finlayson-Russell in his 30-strong squad for 2026’s World Rugby Junior Championship in Georgia this summer.
The Edinburgh-born 19-year-old, currently studying management at St Andrews University, is one of 17 forwards selected, alongside 13 backs.
Edinburgh academy fly-half, centre or full-back Ross Wolfenden and Glasgow Warriors academy hooker Joe Roberts have been named as co-captains.
The young Scots have got three pool games against Italy, New Zealand and Japan in Kutaisi lined up initially, followed by further fixtures to determine final standings.
They play the Italians on Saturday, June 27, at 10am; New Zealand on Thursday, July 2, at 3pm; and the Japanese on Tuesday, July 7, at 12.30pm.
Though they lost their two warm-up matches at Edinburgh’s Meggetland sports complex this month – by 53-40 to Wales last Friday and 61-19 to Ireland seven days prior, with Finlayson-Russell on the bench for both – Pringle, 47, is confident his squad are ready for the challenge ahead of them, saying: “Playing in the world championship will be another step up for our players from the Six Nations and we are well prepared for what is ahead.
“We’ve had a good block of preparation. The players have worked extremely hard, training in Edinburgh and playing against Ireland and Wales.
“There are some faces in the squad that weren’t involved in the Six Nations and we’re excited to see how they take their opportunities in Georgia.
“Squad depth will be very important, with five-day turnarounds between games, and going with a 17-13 split across forwards and backs gives us a good balance to our squad.
“We have young and exciting backs coming through, as well as some experienced backs in key positions.
“We have a number of experienced players in our front five, with four of our props returning from last year.
“That experience of returning players will help the group going into the tournament.
“There has been a lot of competition for places and some tough decisions when finalising the squad of 30.
“There were some guys who were very unfortunate to miss out and that shows the strength in depth that we are developing.
“Coaching-wise, we’ve added Duncan Weir and Henry Pyrgos to our group for the upcoming championship and they’ve made an immediate impact in our environment in terms of their standards and how they operate.
“Everything is now geared towards being ready for the big challenge we face against Italy in our first game.’’
Back-rower Finlayson-Russell and Roberts’ fellow forwards are Archie Appleby, Alfie Blackett, Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, Sam Byrd, Jack Utterson, Dan Halkon, Harry Jackaman, Christian Lindsay, Finlay Mather, Jamie McAughtrie, Oliver McKenna, Will Pearce, Harvey Preston, Jackson Rennie and Jamie Stewart.
The other backs selected are Alex Bryden, Ewan Caven, Matthew Fick, Dan Kelly, Henry Kesterton, Hamish MacArthur, Harry Soboil, Asa Stewart-Harris, Campbell Waugh, Rory McHaffie, Jake Dalziel and Nairn Moncrieff.