England u20s vs NZ

England team up

England side

Not too many surprises.

England Under 20 starting XV to play New Zealand
15 Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs)
14 Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby)
13 Harry Sloan (Harlequins)
12 Sam Hill (Exeter Chiefs)
11 Ben Howard (Worcester Warriors)
10 Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)
9 Alex Day (Northampton Saints)
1 Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi (Northampton Saints)
2 Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs)
3 Scott Wilson (Newcastle Falcons)
4 Elliott Stooke (Gloucester Rugby)
5 Dominic Barrow (Leeds Carnegie)
6 Ross Moriarty (Gloucester Rugby)
7 Matt Hankin (Saracens)
8 Jack Clifford (Harlequins) (c)
Replacements:
16 Scott Spurling (Saracens)
17 Alec Hepburn (London Wasps)
18 Tom Smallbone (London Irish)
19 Tom Price (Leicester Tigers)
20 David Sisi (Bath Rugby)
21 Callum Braley (Bristol Rugby)
22 Ollie Devoto (Bath Rugby)
23 Henry Purdy (Leicester Tigers)

Yep, pretty much as expected, with Hill and Watson recovered from injury. The LCD experiment at hooker continues, Sisi is unlucky not to displace Moriarty, and swapping Nowell and Watson makes no sense, except that they're now both playing in their more natural positions.

Just the 11 changes from the USA game.

I don't think it is an experiment - there are quotes from LCD basically saying it has been agreed that as he doesn't look likely to become big enough to be a top class LH he should therefore focus on hooker.

What does anyone think of Clifford? He's been captain for a fair while now but never seems to get mentioned positively or negatively, I guess that's a good thing but even at Quins the fans are more interested in others.

Hartley was a prop when he was at Worcester academy. It was West who turned him into a hooker. We all know about Youngs. Wasn't Smit a prop before turning to hooking (to pay the bills)?

I refer to LCD as an experiment until it's proved successful. His work in the loose is outstanding, but his primary job as a front row forward is in the scrum and lineout. he'll be 3rd choice hooker at Exeter, and 3rd/4th LH, and at Albion (if his DR is renewed) probably 2nd/3rd hooker or 1st/2nd LH. I can't see his career progression until his darts improve considerably. I wonder if a better move would be to 7, but I'm not sure if he has the pace for that. I don't want to seem to be a downer on him, because I think he's a cracking young player.

Clifford is outstanding, but there seems to be an hex on England U20 No8 captains - Ellis and Gray haven't flourished. I hope Jack breaks the trend, but he'll need to bulk without losing too much speed. So far, he's my England man of the series, so says an extremely one-eyed Exeter fan.

Clifford is outstanding, but there seems to be an hex on England U20 No8 captains - Ellis and Gray haven't flourished. I hope Jack breaks the trend, but he'll need to bulk without losing too much speed. So far, he's my England man of the series, so says an extremely one-eyed Exeter fan.

Cheers for that, yea he looks a little thin at the moment much like Gray he predecessor.

Looking forward to the games tomorrow. Unsure about whether the NZ under 20's are good enough this year. It all adds spice to the game.

the discussion on Hartley is interesting. My understanding is he was a very promising player in a very good team. From memory he made the Rotorua Boys High School team in the 5th form and won a the award for best new player. The team, that year finished top equal in NZ and went on and won the Sannix world championship. I think a Maori boy has gone from there to the premiership recently(Harrison?). Anyone know how he is going. He must be close to being eligible.

Moriarty is bog standard average. Would have much preferred the carrying game of Sisi. Might have got blown away on the deck by Savea I suppose but still.

Sort your hair out England!

Crazy some of those names from 2011. 7 with full caps. 5 hopefully in next years EPS. 2 arguably first choice.

Edit: hopefully 6 in next years EPS. Vunipola, Launchbury, Farrell, Wade, Yarde, Joseph

Yeah I heard rave reviews about Teimana Harrison but he seemed behind all the young English guys like Craig and Nutley, as well as Clark and even Manoa playing at 6. I think he's predominantly a 7 right? Would be good to see how he has progressed.

anyone got a link?

blackcanelion wrote:Looking forward to the games tomorrow. Unsure about whether the NZ under 20's are good enough this year. It all adds spice to the game.

the discussion on Hartley is interesting. My understanding is he was a very promising player in a very good team. From memory he made the Rotorua Boys High School team in the 5th form and won a the award for best new player. The team, that year finished top equal in NZ and went on and won the Sannix world championship. I think a Maori boy has gone from there to the premiership recently(Harrison?). Anyone know how he is going. He must be close to being eligible.

He's been injured apparently. Also his dad is English so he's already eligible

Edit: Teimana Harrison

Hood83 wrote:Moriarty is bog standard average. Would have much preferred the carrying game of Sisi. Might have got blown away on the deck by Savea I suppose but still.

If you don't want him give him back to Wales! We'd love to have him, he's awesome.

This kiwi team doesnt look as strong as previous years and as usual many of the names are uknown unless you follow u20 rugby in NZ.
Ardie Savea hopefully to emulate his brothers feats of 2010, but as Captain.


here we go....

who's the england lad with the mullet, someone needs to tell him get a hair cut else he won't be impressing any women any time soon.

Harrison had a reasonably bad injury and was out for the majority of this season but looked very good before the injury. Harrison and Nutley will be fighting with Tom Wood for the 7 shirt and hopefully will get some time when Wood is away with England, both have shown real talent. James Craig will end up at lock and was played at 6 last season due to injuries and unavailable players in the backrow. Manoa (hopefully) won't be played at 6 anymore and will see time at lock or 8 depending on when players are away with England or not which will open more space for Nutley/Harrison.

I'm pretty sure Harrison is already eligible for England as I think his dad is english if i remember right.

Good luck england, its been a very impressive team this year. Could well go all the way.

3 - 0 to England

try time...

blackcanelion wrote:Looking forward to the games tomorrow. Unsure about whether the NZ under 20's are good enough this year. It all adds spice to the game.

the discussion on Hartley is interesting. My understanding is he was a very promising player in a very good team. From memory he made the Rotorua Boys High School team in the 5th form and won a the award for best new player. The team, that year finished top equal in NZ and went on and won the Sannix world championship. I think a Maori boy has gone from there to the premiership recently(Harrison?). Anyone know how he is going. He must be close to being eligible.

He got some games for Saints at the end of last season after a series of backrow injuries and did pretty well I think, earned himself a decent length contract. I remember checking up on him this season and he's been out of contention with shoulder injuries for most of it, but Saints don't have the biggest backrow squad, so he should have a decent chance competing with the other young guns Nutley & Craig.

He's come out and said he wants to play for his father's home country, who is from the Midlands, which along with the Hartley connection would explain Saints.

Harrison looked really good the season before last and was getting plenty of game time. I guess injuries disrupted him last year.