Three points clear of France at the top of the table, Mark Mapletoft’s squad are on the cusp of age-grade Grand Slam glory for the first time since 2021.
Racing 92 flanker Junior Kpoku has been restored to the England U20 starting line-up for their U20 Six Nations encounter with Scotland in Newcastle on Friday.
Newcastle Falcons director of rugby Steve Diamond is stunned his 18-year-old scrum-half Joe Davis has not been included in England's U20 elite player squad.
It was last March when the class of 2023/24 clinched the championship with a win away in France and they followed up that success by securing World Cup glory in July in South Africa.
It's semi-finals Sunday at the World Rugby U20 Championship and following last Tuesday’s weather-affected schedule, the hope will be that all six matches will be played to an 80-minute conclusion unlike on match day three when there were just four and a half matches completed due to the heavy rain making pitches unplayable.
Three matches are scheduled for Athlone: Ireland-Australia (2pm local time), France-Wales (4:30pm) and South Africa-England (7pm). Over in Stellenbosch, it’s Argentina-Fiji (2pm), Georgia-Italy (4:30pm) and New Zealand-Spain (7pm).
Nigel Hotham, the brains behind Hamilton Boys High's world-class rugby programme, has stepped down as the school's first XV coach after a remarkable 21 years.
Three matches are scheduled for Stellenbosch: Ireland vs Georgia (kick-off 2pm local), France vs New Zealand (4:30pm) and South Africa vs Argentina (7pm). Over in Athlone, Wales vs Spain is the opening match (2pm) followed by England vs Fiji (4:30pm) and Australia vs Italy (7pm).
The English were denied a shot at the Grand Slam by Ireland’s last-gasp, game-levelling converted try at The Rec last Friday.
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.