England U20s make a dozen changes to starting XV to face Fiji

England have named a starting XV to play Fiji on Thursday at the Junior World Championship showing a dozen changes from last Saturday’s opening-round draw with Ireland. Mark Mapletoft’s charges secured a 34-all share of the spoils in Paarl against the current Six Nations U20s champions, but the head coach has now delved into his squad for the Pool C assignment versus the Fijians in Stellenbosch.

Only Finn Carnduff, the blindside who will captain the team from lock in place of his benched Leicester colleague Lewis Chessum, out-half Connor Slevin, and Joe Jenkins, the left wing who has switched to outside centre, have been retained to start for the second successive match.

A statement read: “England men’s U20 head coach Mark Mapletoft has named his team to face Fiji in their second match of the World Rugby U20 Championship after the side played out a 34-all draw against Ireland U20 to open their tournament in South Africa.

“Finn Carnduff from Leicester Tigers has been named captain for the match. In the front row, James Halliwell gets his first start after debuting on Saturday, promoted to the starting 15 alongside fellow prop Archie McArthur and hooker Nathan Jibulu.

“Behind them, Harlequins’ Harry Browne joins the captain Carnduff in the second row. Nathan Michelow will start at blindside flanker, with Tristan Woodman packing down on the opposite side of the scrum, while Zach Carr earns his first England U20 cap at No8.

“Nye Thomas is the England scrum-half, playing inside Connor Slevin who again starts at fly-half after a flawless display off the kicking tee in his debut against Ireland. Toby Thame (inside centre) and Alex Wills (left wing) are also in line to make their England U20 debuts. Lining up outside them are Joe Jenkins, Jacob Cusick and Louie Johnson who will wear the 13, 14 and 15 shirts respectively.

“Craig Wright, Ethan Clarke, Afolabi Fasogbon, Lewis Chessum, Greg Fisilau, Charlie Bracken, Cassius Cleaves and Tobias Elliott are the replacements. “

Mapletoft said: “We were really pleased with the things the team did well in our game against Ireland on Saturday, particularly with how we built upon our performances from the Six Nations. We have taken learnings on board from the match and have now shifted our attention to Fiji, who gave the Australians a real crack in their tournament opener.

“With only a five-day turnaround between fixtures, our players have prioritised their recovery well. We have named a number of debutants for Thursday’s match, so congratulations to those five lads and all others selected.”

England (vs Fiji U20s – Thursday, 7pm SAST, 6pm UK time)
15. Louie Johnson (Newcastle Falcons)
14. Jacob Cusick (Leicester Tigers)
13. Joe Jenkins (Bristol Bears)
12. Toby Thame* (Northampton Saints)
11. Alex Wills* (Sale Sharks)
10. Connor Slevin (Harlequins)
9. Nye Thomas (Sale Sharks)
1. Archie McArthur (Gloucester)
2. Nathan Jibulu (Harlequins)
3. James Halliwell (Bristol Bears)
4. Finn Carnduff (Leicester Tigers)
5. Harry Browne (Harlequins)
6. Nathan Michelow (Saracens)
7. Tristan Woodman (Sale Sharks)
8. Zach Carr* (Harlequins)

Replacements:
16. Craig Wright* (Northampton Saints)
17. Ethan Clarke* (Harlequins)
18. Afolabi Fasogbon
19. Lewis Chessum (Leicester Tigers)
20. Greg Fisilau (Exeter Chiefs)
21. Charlie Bracken (Saracens)
22. Cassius Cleaves (Harlequins)
23. Tobias Elliott (Saracens)
*Denotes England U20s debut