Latest news with #Scots'
Scotsman
15 hours ago
- Sport
- Scotsman
Good and bad news for Scotland U20 ahead of World Championships amid Freddy Douglas blow
Murray challenges team to give a better account of themselves in England opener Sign up to our Rugby Union newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... There was good and bad news for Scotland Under-20s ahead of their World Rugby U20 Championship opener against England in Italy. On the plus side, the spectre of relegation has been removed because the tournament is expanding from 12 to 16 teams next year. The young Scots have worked hard to return to the top-tier tournament so knowing they are going to remain there comes as a relief. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad On the debit side, they will go into the England match without Freddy Douglas, their talismanic co-captain who has suffered a concussion. Scotland U20s' Oliver Duncan (L) and Jack Brown. | SNS Group / SRU Douglas, 20, is already a full Scotland international and made a big impact on Kenny Murray's under-20 side when he returned from injury midway through the U20 Six Nations, scoring three tries in the Scots' final three matches. The hope is that the openside flanker will be available for Scotland's second game at the World Championship, against Australia next Friday. In the meantime, Edinburgh's Oliver Duncan moves over from six to seven to cover Douglas' absence and Montpellier's Charlie Moss comes in to the side at six. Coping without Freddy Douglas 'Freddy took a wee bit of a bang in a maul in training,' explained Murray. 'Following the return-to-play protocols and all things going well, he'll be available for game two. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'We were probably going to start Freddy at seven but it doesn't really weaken us too much. Charlie and Oliver Duncan are both good sixes. It gives us a bit more size as well which, against England, is obviously something you want to have.' Scotland U20 head coach Kenny Murray. | SNS Group / SRU As well as England and Australia, Scotland will also face South Africa in Pool A. It is a daunting draw and there will be two play-off classification games which follow the group stage to decide the final positions. In previous tournaments, the 12th team were demoted to the second-tier World Rugby U20 Trophy competition, a fate which befell Scotland in 2019. A combination of Covid and failure to win promotion in 2023 meant they have remained out of the elite for six years but victory in the Trophy last summer secured their return and the absence of relegation this time has been welcomed by Murray. 'It took a wee while, but we always knew there was a possibility that it might happen this year,' said the coach. 'They were looking to extend it to 16 teams, so it takes a bit of pressure off in terms of not having to worry about relegation and going into game four and five. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Atoning for heavy Six Nations defeat 'Not a lot of changes, we still want to perform well and win our games and give a good account of ourselves but we can now try to do that without the added pressure of relegation.' England defeated Scotland 57-13 in the U20 Six Nations and are the defending world champions at this level and Murray has urged his team to give a better account of themselves in Verona on Sunday than they did in Newcastle in February. 'The England game in the Six Nations was probably our worst performance of the tournament,' he said. 'I don't think we gave a good account of ourselves in that game and nothing really went for us. We want to go out there on Sunday and have a much better performance and have a real crack at them.' Conditions will be tough, with temperatures in northern Italy above 30 degrees. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Scotland U20 (v England U20, Payanini Center, Verona, Sunday, 2.30pm BST, live on RugbyPassTV 15. Jack Brown (Edinburgh); 14. Nairn Moncrieff (Edinburgh); 13. Johnny Ventisei (Glasgow; capt), 12. Kerr Yule (Glasgow), 11. Fergus Watson (Glasgow); 10. Matthew Urwin (Glasgow), 9. Noah Cowan (Brunel University/Ealing Trailfinders); 1. Jake Shearer (Glasgow), 2. Joe Roberts (Glasgow), 3. Ollie Blyth-Lafferty (Edinburgh). 4. Bart Godsell (Loughborough Univ), 5. Dan Halkon (Glasgow), 6. Charlie Moss (Montpellier), 7. Oliver Duncan (Edinburgh), 8. Reuben Logan (Northampton).
Scottish Sun
17-06-2025
- Sport
- Scottish Sun
Legendary darts pair warned their World Cup days could be OVER after humiliating whitewash
One emerging talent is breathing down their necks OCHE AND OUT Legendary darts pair warned their World Cup days could be OVER after humiliating whitewash Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) GARY ANDERSON and Peter Wright's World Cup days could be over, according to legend Colin Lloyd. The high-class duo, with four world titles between them, were smashed 8-0 by the Netherlands in the last 16 at Frankfurt on Saturday night. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 2 Gary Anderson and Peter Wright were thrashed at the World Cup Credit: Alamy 2 Colin Lloyd believes the pair's World Cup future is in doubt Credit: Getty World No.12 Anderson and Wright had previously won the tournament together in 2019. But they managed just three darts at a double across the match as they limped to a 79.37 team average. Dutch duo Gian van Veen and Danny Noppert averaged over 100 and needed less than 13 minutes to take the first seven legs. Former World No.1 Lloyd admitted time may be up for the veteran pair with Cameron Menzies now bursting into contention. READ MORE IN DARTS GROUND TO A HALT Abandoned 34,500-seater stadium tipped to host Euro 2028 games lands £50m He said: 'Will it be those two performing next year for Scotland? Who knows. 'Cameron Menzies is blasting up the rankings, so we might have a different pairing next year for Scotland.' Two-time major winner Lloyd didn't hold back in his assessment of the Scots' performance - but insisted credit also had to go to the Netherlands. He added: 'It was a sloppy performance. They averaged 78 between them as a team. CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS 'It was very unlike Gary Anderson and Peter Wright. I will defend them on that front. 'But let's not take away the level of performance the Dutch put in, averaging 100 as a pair. Darts star Daryl Gurney screams X-rated rant about his 'b------s' on stage at World Cup 'They had plenty of opportunities and they took them all. 'You would not expect Gary Anderson and Peter Wright to put in a performance like that. 'They would have been disappointed. 'It is a funny old game pairs. Sometimes you don't feel like you get the flow or rhythm going. 'And it very much looked like that for those two guys. 'If they were going to get beat by Gian van Veen and Danny Noppert I would not have expected it to be 8-0. 'That was a shock. Not that the Dutch beat the Scottish team but in the fashion that they did.'
The Irish Sun
17-06-2025
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Legendary darts pair warned their World Cup days could be OVER after humiliating whitewash
GARY ANDERSON and Peter Wright's World Cup days could be over, according to legend Colin Lloyd. The high-class duo, with four world titles between them, were smashed 8-0 by the Netherlands in the last 16 at Frankfurt on Saturday night. 2 Gary Anderson and Peter Wright were thrashed at the World Cup Credit: Alamy 2 Colin Lloyd believes the pair's World Cup future is in doubt Credit: Getty World No.12 Anderson and But they managed just three darts at a double across the match as they limped to a 79.37 team average. Dutch duo Gian van Veen and Danny Noppert averaged over 100 and needed less than 13 minutes to take the first seven legs. Former World No.1 Lloyd admitted time may be up for the veteran pair with Cameron Menzies now bursting into contention. READ MORE IN DARTS He said: 'Will it be those two performing next year for Scotland ? Who knows. 'Cameron Menzies is blasting up the rankings, so we might have a different pairing next year for Scotland.' Two-time major winner Lloyd didn't hold back in his assessment of the Scots' performance - but insisted credit also had to go to the Netherlands. He added: 'It was a sloppy performance. They averaged 78 between them as a team. Most read in Darts CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS 'It was very unlike Gary Anderson and Peter Wright . I will defend them on that front. 'But let's not take away the level of performance the Dutch put in, averaging 100 as a pair. Darts star Daryl Gurney screams X-rated rant about his 'b------s' on stage at World Cup 'They had plenty of opportunities and they took them all. 'You would not expect Gary Anderson and Peter Wright to put in a performance like that. 'They would have been disappointed. 'It is a funny old game pairs. Sometimes you don't feel like you get the flow or rhythm going. 'And it very much looked like that for those two guys. 'If they were going to get beat by Gian van Veen and Danny Noppert I would not have expected it to be 8-0. 'That was a shock. Not that the Dutch beat the Scottish team but in the fashion that they did.'
Daily Record
15-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Record
Labour's £14bn 'fixation' with new nuclear power 'won't cut bills or help climate'
The UK Government last week announced a new 'golden age' of nuclear but academics and campaigners warn it will be a costly energy fail. Labour's £14billion 'fixation' with new nuclear power will be a costly flop and do nothing to lower Scots' bills or hit climate targets, experts have warned. It comes after Keir Starmer's goverment last week announced a 'golden age' of nuclear energy with a £14.2billion investment to finally build the delayed Sizewell C plant in Suffolk which it claimed will create 10,000 jobs. Ministers say the move is vital to prevent future blackouts and to help the shift to a low carbon economy. Now campaigners and academics warned nuclear energy is too expensive and plants take too long to build to make any dent in net zero efforts or prevent future blackouts. And they said the result of 'inevitable' cost overruns on nuclear projects would lead to a 'nuclear tax' on consumer bills. It follows pressure on the SNP to end its block on nuclear projects, with Labour saying it could open Scotland up to small modular reactors (SMR) if it wins at Holyrood next year. But Pete Roche, an Edinburgh energy consultant and anti-nuclear campaigner, said: "It's too late for nuclear. It takes too long to build. "We're trying to tackle a climate crisis here, we need to be fast - the faster, the better. "You can insulate people's homes and put up wind farms quite quickly in comparison to how long it takes to build a nuclear power station. "And the worry is when you're putting all your eggs in the nuclear basket, the money is getting diverted, civil servants' attention is getting diverted. "We're not focused enough on getting the energy transition based on renewables off the ground. "It's a fixation and the UK is not on its own. There's all sorts of talk in other countries of building nuclear power stations again. "It's almost like a mass psychosis because if they really investigated properly what the best use of public funds would be, nuclear wouldn't get a look-in." Dr Paul Dorfman, of the Bennett Institute at the University of Sussex, said more than £20billion had now been committed to Sizewell C but the final bill could easily be double that and likely more. He told the Sunday Mail: 'The vast majority of that money comes from public subsidy - in other words, the public will have to pay for all the inevitable over-costs and overruns, which is basically a nuclear tax.' Dr Dorfman continued: 'In Scotland, given the country's vast renewable power capacity, one wonders what would be the reason to burden Scotland with new nuclear. 'New nuclear builds, wherever they're built, are always vastly over cost and over time. 'Hinkley Point C [in Somerset] is already 90 per cent over budget and seven years late, with at least seven years of construction remaining. 'And the form of reactor that is doomed to be constructed at Sizewell C is the same reactor being built at Hinkley C.' He added: 'It is possible to sustain a reliable power system by expanding r enewables on all levels, whether that's solar, wind, geothermal, hydrogen, storage and all the rest of it… 'But nuclear risks eating all of the cake. 'The time lost may prove catastrophic, because according to the UK Government, it takes up to 17 years to build just one nuclear power plant. 'Meanwhile all SMRs are in the design phase. 'In terms of the climate, we are running out of time now.' And because of the time it takes to build a nuclear station, he declared: 'Nuclear cannot keep the lights on.' Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Tor Justad, chair of Highlands Against Nuclear Power (HANP), highlighted the continuing issues related to the old Dounreay plant which shut down in 1985 around radioactive waste. He said: 'For me, investing in nuclear makes no sense, whether economically or in terms of safety or benefit to the wider community. 'We don't need these massive white elephants which always end up costing twice what they started with and take twice the length of time to build than they predicted. 'And this argument about base load doesn't take into account the storage possibilities for renewables that we're developing at a rapid pace, including here in the Highlands. 'We can store electricity now in ways that we never could do ten years ago, and that will continue to improve.' He added Labour's pro-nuclear stance is 'a real danger' in Scotland. The UK Government's Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: 'We reject these views." Noting the £14.2billion investment and jobs boost, it added: 'We are ending the no-nuclear status quo as part of our Plan for Change and are entering a golden age of nuclear with the biggest building programme in a generation... "This is the government's clean energy mission in action – investing in lower bills and good jobs for energy security.'
Daily Record
08-06-2025
- Sport
- Daily Record
Steve Clarke directly addresses Scotland flak as he tells the disgruntled 'I don't need to be loved'
The national team head coach has came under more pressure from some fans in the wake of Friday's dismal defeat to Iceland Steve Clarke insists he is 'not bothered' about calls from disillusioned supporters that his time as Scotland manager is up and is adamant he is a guy who does not need to be loved. The former West Brom boss is facing fresh another inquest from fans in some quarters after watching his team fall to a 3-1 friendly defeat to Iceland on Friday night, with the head coach and his players booed off the pitch at Hampden. That loss has extended the national team's record to just four wins in their last 20 matches in all competitions, with Scotland suffering relegation to Nations League B earlier this year following a two-legged relegation play-off defeat to Greece, who they will face again in World Cup 2026 qualifying later this year. Clarke will need to pick his players up for the trip to face Liechtenstein on Monday night, the Scots' final friendly encounter before they kick off their qualifying campaign with a tough assignment on away soil against Denmark in September. But the 61-year-old - who is under contract with the SFA until after next year's finals in North America - insists he is able to handle the calls for the sack like water off a duck's back. Speaking to BBC Sport Scotland, he said: "(I'll handle it) just the way that I handle everything else. I try to be very measured in my approach and I try to be very measured in my approach to life. "I've done alright. I'm over 60. I'm still involved in the game. "So I must have a fair idea how to deal with the disappointments and also how to deal with the highs as well. "Football, especially club football can be week to week and can be one minute (you are) up and one minute (you are) down. "It's a little bit like that in international football but it's more spread out. You just have to learn to deal with it. "I think my character is quite suited to being the guy who gets all the stick. "Everybody likes to be loved but I don't.... I'm very good at not going on social media and reading the newspapers or whatever. "You get a general feel for what's happening in the world of football that concerns you but no, that doesn't bother me too much."
