Tom Currie reckons Scotland are close to getting victories at U20 but they just need a bit more physical and mental effort to get over the line.

Kenny Murray’s youngsters have been on the receiving end of some narrow defeats in their opening three matches and they only have one victory in the tournament since 2020.

They face an Italy side who have just defeated World Champions France in their next match and it will be another tough test for Scotland.

Currie is back in the starting XV having suffered a head injury in the opening minutes of the Championship against Wales last month.

It brought an early end to his game and he was frustrated by that but now he hopes to make up for lost time. He believes his side can deal with the loss of captain Liam McConnell and step up to show what they can do moving forward.

But he wants a full 80-minute performance from his team and hopes they don’t leave themselves with too much to do like they did against France and England.

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He said: “Our second-half performances in the tournament have been pretty good. It is again talking about that 80 minutes, so starting quickly.

"But towards the end of the match we do feel like we’re in it, and if it went on for a little bit longer we feel like we’d be there.

“So it is disappointing coming off the pitch, but we are looking at it thinking ‘there’s a lot of good things we’ve done in there’.

“At the start of the match, we have to do whatever you need to do to get into the game, whether it’s tackle, kick chase, just whatever - something that relaxes you and gets you into the game.

“I started the first game but I came off within two minutes. It is quite overwhelming at the start for some boys. 

“Just firing the first shot [and] not taking a step back will really help us.”