Scotland U20 head coach Kenny Murray admits it’s frustrating that he isn’t able to call upon Ollie Blyth-Lafferty because of his age despite him being among the bigger front rows at U20 level.

The 17-year-old was named in the team to face Wales last week but was then swapped out on the day of the match and Murray revealed it was down to talks with World Rugby and player protection. Blyth-Lafferty will be able to play for the U20s in seven weeks when he turns 18 and Scotland don’t feel it is worth jeopardising any player safety but Murray does admit it’s annoying because he can play so soon.

He would have been the biggest in the front row in the trip to Colwyn Bay last week and has played adult rugby but he won’t be involved in the Six Nations. Murray has made two changes to the team that lost in Wales last week with injury-hit Ewan McVie and Tom Currie both missing out. Harlequins Theo Currie comes into the second row while Glasgow’s Jonny Morris takes over at 8.

Callum Norrie continues at tighthead in the place of Blyth-Lafferty while the back five remains unchanged for the game against France.

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Speaking after naming his team Murray was asked about the teenage prop and said: “That’s the frustrating thing that in seven weeks he’s able to go and play. Arguably we could put in a request for dispensation but we wouldn’t go down that road because at the end of the day we don’t want to be doing anything that jeopardises player well being.

“We selected him and wanted to double check and go through everything. We’ve done all our stuff here and had a good plan in place where he did some training with Edinburgh, he played with Currie in the Premiership and got involved in the super series so we made sure we had a real plan. From a Six Nations perspective it has been done but when we had discussions we didn’t want to push it. Ironically he’d have been the biggest player in the front row in that game with Wales. There’s no point worrying about it, just got to get on with it.

“He’s able to play rugby in Scotland, he can play adult rugby, he’s played super series and Six Nations wise there was nothing to say he couldn’t play but when we looked into it with World Rugby and their recommendations is they prefer guys don’t play at 17. Ironically in eight weeks time he can go play as much as he wants. He could play adult rugby tomorrow, he could play in the super series in Scotland which is a bit odd but that’s how it is.”

Scotland U20 team to face France: Deans, Young, Norrie, Currie, Hart, McConnell, Douglas, Morris, Lock, Coates, Caqusau, Yule, Gwynn, Johnston, Watson

Replacements: J Blyth-Lafferty, Smyth, Whitefield, Burke, Clarke, Job, Patterson, Hocking