Boroughmuir had a big part to play in the Scotland men’s under-20 World Trophy success during July.
The young Scots defeated USA 48-10 in the final at Hive Stadium in Edinburgh on Wednesday evening to clinch promotion back into the 12-team top tier Championship for 2025.
Before that Scotland had beaten Samoa by a record score of 123-15 in Pool A and then followed it up by seeing off Hong Kong China 101-0 and Japan 46-10.
At just 18-years-old tighthead prop Ollie Blyth-Lafferty – featured recently here – was one of the stars of the show while captain Liam McConnell and hooker Jerry Blyth-Lafferty were also excellent throughout.
Back-row Liam and Jerry, Ollie’s older brother, are both 20 and came through the youth set up at Boroughmuir just like Ollie while stand-off Andrew McLean has turned out for the Bears in recent times in Super6/Series.
“We are all extremely proud at Boroughmuir of the part our Academy graduates and former players played in the sensational win over the USA ensuring Scotland under-20s return to the World Championship next year for the first time since 2015,” Boroughmuir director of rugby Neill Wood said.
“Liam, Jerry, Ollie played a massive part in the win over the USA and there was a big contingent of Boroughmuir players and members there to support them.
“They are a credit to our club and to our Player Development Programme and showcase the end product of investment in youth rugby development at club level.
“I was lucky enough to play alongside Liam’s dad Keith at Selkirk and I can see echoes of his dad’s robustness in his play. Liam, Jerry and Ollie played all of their youth rugby at Boroughmuir and the club is super proud of their achievements so far.
“We are sure this is just the start of the success these lads will enjoy in their rugby journeys.
“We are also extremely proud of Boroughmuir Bear, Andrew McLean, he played Super6/Series rugby for the Bears and has been a great asset to the club.
“He showed the experience gained from playing part-time professional rugby in all his Scotland under-20 games which gave him the edge in both game management and physicality.
“We hope to see Andrew back at Boroughmuir showing his talents for the club XV in the future and time will tell. We must also mention try scorer versus USA, Johnny Ventisei who made appearances for the Bears this year and made a big impression at the club.
“We continue to invest in our youth at Boroughmuir and we are already seeing the next batch of talent coming through. Boroughmuir is open to all players seeking to take their game to the next level and is glad to see the success of all these players who learnt and developed their rugby at Boroughmuir.”
Liam, who as well as coming through the rank at Meggetland also played Super6/Series rugby at the club, said it “felt good, really good” to lead the national age-grade side to glory on home turf.
“It felt good, really good to lift the trophy,” he said.
“It is probably top of my experiences in rugby so far. I said to the boys in the lead up that if we won this it would be right up there with my best rugby memories and it is.
“It has been a tough few years at times, a lot of stuff hasn’t gone our way, but now I am just so happy.
“Everyone has grown, not just me, but everyone, I can see it in other boys and something really clicked this campaign.”
Jerry scored two tries in the final against the Americans and said: “I thought we did well to just keep the pressure on and not go ‘off script.’
“It was very tight in the first half, but we just came in at half-time and said ‘look, they will break eventually’.
“It was a final, they were up for it, but we just needed to stick to our principles.
“It was nice to get two tries while playing alongside my brother and someone like Liam who I have known for a long time made it extra special.”
Aberdonian McLean said: “I am buzzing to have played my part in this tournament win.
“This was my fourth competition in total with the under-20s, two Six Nation and two World Rugby Trophys, and there have been some tough ones so that makes this success feel all the sweeter.
“Playing at the Super6/Series level with the Bears certainly helped me to prepare for playing in the competition and Graham Shiel and others at Meggetland have really helped me with my game in recent times.”
Any young players or senior players interested in joining Boroughmuir should contact director of rugby Neill Wood via directorofrugby@boroughmuirsports.co.uk or visit the club website boroughmuirrugby.co.uk for more information
Thanks to World Rugby and N50 Photography for the images