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England U20 add another fixture ahead of Six Nations title defence

Jack Bracken of England U20 during the World Rugby U20 Championship 2024 match between South Africa and England at Athlone Stadium on July 09, 2024 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo by Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images)

England U20 are set to take on Bath United at the Rec on Friday January 17, less than two weeks before they get their Six Nations title defence underway.

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Mark Mapletoft’s side are already due to face Cambridge this Saturday at Ellgia Fields, but have now added a further fixture before getting their Six Nations campaign started with trip to Cork to face Ireland U20 at Virgin Media Park on January 30.

The world champions faced Bath United last year in the build-up to their Six Nations campaign, losing 42-33.

England will return to the Rec twice during their campaign, against France on February 7 and against Italy on March 7.

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Bath United have already registered a 41-24 victory over Edinburgh A in October.

“We’re very pleased to have this fixture confirmed and thank Bath Rugby for welcoming us once again for what promises to be a positive experience for developing players in both squads,” Mapletoft said.

“The fixture is a perfect opportunity for our players to be exposed to playing under the lights on a Friday night ahead of the Six Nations at one of our two host venues. We want to replicate the preparation and level of expectations that we will demand of the squad ahead of a busy competitive period.

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“Preparations for the Six Nations have begun strongly following our December regional camps and most recent meeting at Warwick University. The excitement amongst the players is palpable and we’re determined to make a strong start in our bid to retain honours this year.”

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J
JW 2 hours ago
Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

It is now 22 years since Michael Lewis published his groundbreaking treatise on winning against the odds

I’ve never bothered looking at it, though I have seen a move with Clint as a scout/producer. I’ve always just figured it was basic stuff for the age of statistics, is that right?

Following the Moneyball credo, the tailor has to cut his cloth to the material available

This is actually a great example of what I’m thinking of. This concept has abosolutely nothing to do with Moneyball, it is simple being able to realise how skillsets tie together and which ones are really revelant.


It sounds to me now like “moneyball” was just a necessity, it was like scienctest needing to come up with some random experiment to make all the other world scholars believe that Earth was round. The American sporting scene is very unique, I can totally imagine one of it’s problems is rich old owners not wanting to move with the times and understand how the game has changed. Some sort of mesiah was needed to convert the faithful.


While I’m at this point in the article I have to say, now the NRL is a sport were one would stand up and pay attention to the moneyball phenom. Like baseball, it’s a sport of hundreds of identical repetitions, and very easy to data point out.

the tailor has to cut his cloth to the material available and look to get ahead of an unfair game in the areas it has always been strong: predictive intelligence and rugby ‘smarts’

Actually while I’m still here, Opta Expected Points analysis is the one new tool I have found interesting in the age of data. Seen how the random plays out as either likely, or unlikely, in the data’s (and algorithms) has actually married very closely to how I saw a lot of contests pan out.


Engaging return article Nick. I wonder, how much of money ball is about strategy as apposed to picks, those young fella’s got ahead originally because they were picking players that played their way right? Often all you here about is in regards to players, quick phase ruck ball, one out or straight up, would be were I’d imagine the best gains are going to be for a data driven leap using an AI model of how to structure your phases. Then moving to tactically for each opposition.

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