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Unbeaten England U20s change five for visit of title rivals Ireland
Mark Mapletoft has made five changes to his starting England U20s XV for Friday night’s crunch Six Nations age-grade clash with Ireland in Bath.
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The English were 30-17 winners away to Scotland the last time out, but they have now bolstered their side with some recalls, enforced injury changes and positional switches to take on the Irish, who also go into the round four match with three wins from three so far.
There are two changes in personnel in the backline with Josh Bellamy taking over from the injured Rory Taylor at out-half while the promotion of Ben Waghorn from the bench back into the starting midfield has seen Ben Redshaw switch to full-back with Ioan Jones missing out.
In the pack, Jacob Oliver is promoted from the bench to take over from Craig Wright and the return of Olamide Sodeke and Junior Kpoku at lock has resulted in Joe Bailey missing out and skipper Finn Carnduff switching to blindside, with Zach Carr dropping to the bench.
England boss Mark Mapletoft said: “England and Ireland have had some battles in recent times and this fixture is one that I’m sure our fans have been anticipating since it was announced last year.
“The support we received in our last outing at The Rec was second to none, and the fact we are expecting an even bigger crowd this weekend only adds to what promises to be a memorable occasion.
“Ireland’s Richie Murphy is a coach I have great respect for. He and his staff have built a very impressive programme and we look forward to welcoming them this Friday to write another chapter.”
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England U20s (vs Ireland, Friday)
15. Ben Redshaw (Newcastle Falcons, West Park Leeds RFC, 3 caps)
14. Toby Cousins (Northampton Saints, Bugbrooke RFC, 4 caps)
13. Ben Waghorn (Harlequins, Chipstead Rugby Club, 5 caps)
12. Sean Kerr (Harlequins, Effingham and Leatherhead RFC, 2 caps)
11. Alex Wills (Sale Sharks, Stourbridge Rugby, 6 caps)
10. Josh Bellamy (Harlequins, Rosslyn Park, 2 caps)
9. Archie McParland (Northampton Saints, Ruthin RFC, 2 caps)
1. Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks, Broadstreet RFC, 12 caps)
2. Jacob Oliver (Newcastle Falcons, Barnard Castle Rugby Club, 3 caps)
3. Billy Sela (Bath Rugby, Royal Wootton Bassett RFC, 3 caps)
4. Olamide Sodeke (Saracens, Blackheath Rugby, 2 caps)
5. Junior Kpoku (Racing 92, Saracens Amateurs, 2 caps)
6. Finn Carnduff (c) (Leicester Tigers, Market Harborough RFC, 13 caps)
7. Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints, Banbury RFC, 3 caps)
8. Nathan Michelow (Saracens, Coopers Company and Coborn School, 8 caps)
Replacements:
16. James Isaacs (Saracens, Hemel Hempstead Camelot RFC, uncapped)
17. Scott Kirk (Bath Rugby, Michaelhouse College, 3 caps)
18. James Halliwell (Bristol Bears, Thornbury Broncos Rugby Club, 7 caps)
19. Zach Carr (Harlequins, Ironsides Rugby Club, 4 caps)
20. Kane James (Exeter Chiefs, St Peters RFC, 2 caps)
21. Ben Douglas (Newcastle Falcons, Northern Football Club, 3 caps)
22. George Makepeace-Cubitt (Rams RFC, Reading Abbey RFC, 2 caps)
23. Oli Spencer (Newcastle Falcons, Epping Rams Rugby, 2 caps)
"Ireland will bring a direct, powerful, through the middle game but I'm expecting us to nullify that."
– Full-back Ben Redshaw explains the England mood heading into Friday night's U20s Six Nations title clash at The Rec. #EnglandRugby #ENGvIRE #U6N20 #rugby pic.twitter.com/VBlEkEKCF7
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 6, 2024
Comments on RugbyPass
Why 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 commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
31 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
31 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
31 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
31 Go to comments