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Seven capped players included in England A squad to play Australia A

BAGSHOT, ENGLAND - MARCH 11: Fraser Dingwall of England runs with the ball during the England Training Session at Pennyhill Park on March 11, 2024 in Bagshot, England. (Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images)

Northampton Saints centre Fraser Dingwall has been named England A captain as a 24-player squad was selected to take on Australia A at Twickenham Stoop on Sunday, November 17.

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Dingwall is one of seven capped players included, alongside club-mates Curtis Langdon and Tom Pearson, Leicester Tigers prop Joe Heyes, Bath flanker Ted Hill, Sale winger Tom Roebuck and Saracens No.8 Tom Willis.

Five of those, Dingwall, Pearson, Hill, Roebuck and Willis spent time with Steve Borthwick’s senior squad ahead of the Autumn Nations Series but were not involved in the narrow defeat to New Zealand or this weekend’s meeting with Australia.

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    Forwards Afolabi Fasogbon, Henry Pollock and Vilikesa Sela, meanwhile, have been included having been part of head coach Mark Mapletoft’s World Rugby U20 Championship winning side.

    Scrum-half Archie McParland did not feature in South Africa but played for Mapletoft during the 2024 U20 Six Nations, which England also won.

    In total, eight members of the matchday 23 that beat Portugal A 91-5 at Welford Road in February – the team’s first match for eight years – have been recalled for this month’s assignment.

    Premiership Rugby Player of the Month Gabriel Ibitoye, meanwhile, has been rewarded for his fine form with a place in the squad.

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    The wider squad and matchday 23 for the Australia A match has been selected in consultation with Mapletoft and determined by Borthwick and RFU Executive Director of Performance Rugby, Conor O’Shea.

    Mapletoft will be assisted by his U20 lieutenants Andy Titterrell and Nathan Catt while Bath’s Lee Blackett and Haydn Thomas of Exeter Chiefs will add their expertise to the coaching staff.

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    The squad will assemble at Hazlewood Centre next Tuesday, where they will be joined by selected players currently training with the senior squad.

    Mapletoft said: “The coaching staff and I are incredibly excited to reveal this squad after extensive collaborative work and are looking forward to working with some familiar and new faces alike.

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    “Next week presents a platform for a selection of some of the best Premiership talent to express themselves further whilst representing their country, some of those being U20 players me and the pathway staff have worked with very recently. It bridges from the pathway and into senior contention through vital game time in an England jersey.

    “An England A matchweek is a short turnaround; the key for us is to instill a chemistry through extensive preparation, knowledge sharing and a diligent team culture ahead of a very competitive opportunity in front of an energetic home support.”

    See England’s brightest young talent when England A take on Australia A on Sunday, 17 November at Harlequins’ Twickenham Stoop – KO 14:00 GMT. Tickets are available from only £25 for adults & £15 for U16 (+booking fees) here.

    View the match live and free on RugbyPass TV (exc. UK & Australia).

    England Men A wider squad (includes club and senior caps)

    Forwards

    Joe Batley (Bristol Bears)

    Afolabi Fasogbon (Gloucester Rugby)

    Greg Fisilau (Exeter Chiefs)

    Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers, 7 caps)

    Ted Hill (Bath Rugby, 2 caps)

    Emmanuel Iyogun (Northampton Saints)

    Nathan Jibulu (Harlequins)

    Curtis Langdon (Northampton Saints, 2 caps)

    Gabriel Oghre (Bristol Bears)

    Tom Pearson (Northampton Saints, 1 cap)

    Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints)

    Vilikesa Sela (Bath Rugby)

    Tom Willis (Saracens, 1 cap)

    Backs

    Charlie Atkinson (Gloucester Rugby)

    Oscar Beard (Harlequins)

    Joe Carpenter (Sale Sharks)

    Fraser Dingwall (c) (Northampton Saints, 2 caps)

    Gabriel Ibitoye (Bristol Bears)

    Archie McParland (Northampton Saints)

    Cadan Murley (Harlequins)

    Max Ojomoh (Bath Rugby)

    Will Porter (Harlequins)

    Tom Roebuck (Sale Sharks, 1 cap)

    Jamie Shillcock (Leicester Tigers)

    England Men A coaching staff for Australia A fixture

    Mark Mapletoft – Head Coach

    Andy Titterrell – Forwards Coach

    Nathan Catt – Scrum Coach

    Lee Blackett – Attack Coach

    Haydn Thomas – Defence Coach

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    Comments

    6 Comments
    C
    CM 146 days ago

    A number of these players should be in the England 1stXV but SB is myopic as usual, trained by EJ.

    B
    Bjs 146 days ago

    Is Will Butt suspended for this fixture? We are short on 12s and he has shown up really well so far this season.

    A
    AJ 146 days ago

    My thoughts exactly!

    f
    fl 147 days ago

    1 Iyogun

    2 Langdon

    3 Heyes

    4 Hill??? (why is there only 1 lock in the squad???)

    5 Batley

    6 Pearson

    7 Pollock

    8 T. Willis

    9 Porter

    10 Shillcock

    11 Murley

    12 Ojomoh

    13 Dingwall

    14 Roebuck

    15 Carpenter


    ?

    f
    fl 147 days ago

    actually - by the looks of it there's only one loosehead in the squad, so presumably Opoku-Fordjour will be parachuted in after training with the first team. Perhaps this also opens up the possibility for Ewels to be picked at 4, with Hill moving to 6?

    T
    Timmyboy 147 days ago

    On premier sports instead of TNT just takes the p1ss.

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    Comments on RugbyPass

    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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