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England name an U20s Six Nations team with eight new caps
England have named a team for their U20s Six Nations opener away to Italy on Friday that contains eight new caps. Head coach Mark Mapletoft has called on seven players previously capped at this level, including skipper Finn Carnduff who was part of the side captained in 2023 by Lewis Chessum.
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Carnduff was recently involved in his 10th senior Leicester appearance as a replacement in their 20-19 Gallagher Premiership win away to Harlequins last weekend.
He is joined in the starting England line-up by Sale prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour and Northampton scrum-half Archie McParland, who have 19 senior club appearances between them this term across domestic and European competition.
Mapletoft said: “It’s great to be back in a game week with the boys. The team are incredibly excited for Friday’s test against a very challenging Italian side.
“I’d like to congratulate Finn on his captaincy. It’s imperative we have players that can lead by their actions on the pitch and we’re lucky to have such a tight-knit group of players to represent us.
“Over the past week, we’ve challenged the team to push themselves in a highly competitive environment as well as seeking to emulate our core principles of speed, attachment and space.
“Andy Titterrell, the coaches and I have welcomed the intensity that the boys have channelled their rugby through in Bisham recently, and that excites us ahead of a tournament we want to start strongly in this week.”
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England U20s (versus Italy – Friday, 7:15pm, Treviso)
15. Ben Redshaw (Newcastle Falcons)
14. Toby Cousins (Northampton Saints) *
13. Ben Waghorn (Harlequins) *
12. Sean Kerr (Harlequins)
11. Alex Wills (Sale Sharks) *
10. Rory Taylor (Gloucester Rugby)
9. Archie McParland (Northampton Saints)
1. Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks) *
2. Craig Wright (Northampton Saints) *
3. Billy Sela (Bath Rugby)
4. Olamide Sodeke (Saracens)
5. Junior Kpoku (Racing 92)
6. Finn Carnduff (capt) (Leicester Tigers) *
7. Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints)
8. Zach Carr (Harlequins) *
Replacements:
16. Jacob Oliver (Newcastle Falcons)
17. Scott Kirk (Bath Rugby)
18. James Halliwell (Bristol Bears) *
19. Joe Bailey (Exeter Chiefs) *
20. Nathan Michelow (Saracens) *
21. Ben Douglas (Newcastle Falcons)
22. Josh Bellamy (Harlequins)
23. Ollie Spencer (Newcastle)
* denotes player previously capped at U20 level
Comments on RugbyPass
The URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to comments