England U20s

Alan Dickens has named his side for the tough opener against Champions France.

The starting XV contains nine players who will make their U20s debut, with Richard Capstick, Rusiate Tuima, Sam Maunder, Manu Vunipola, Connor Doherty and Josh Hodge already capped at this level.
Maunder will captain the side from scrum half, while Hodge is also included having been named as an apprentice in Eddie Jones' senior Guinness Six Nations squad.



England men U20s team to play France
1. James Whitcombe (Leicester Tigers)
2. Theo Dan (Saracens)
3. Luke Green (London Irish)
4. George Hammond (Harlequins)
5. Ben Donnell (London Irish)
6. JJ Tonks (Northampton Saints)
7. Richard Capstick (Exeter Chiefs)
8. Rusiate Tuima (Exeter Chiefs)
9. Sam Maunder – captain (Exeter Chiefs)
10. Manu Vunipola (Saracens)
11. Tom Roebuck (Sale Sharks)
12. Max Ojomoh (Bath Rugby)
13. Connor Doherty (Sale Sharks)
14. Gabriel Hamer-Webb (Bath Rugby)
15. Josh Hodge (Newcastle Falcons)
Replacements
16. Ben Atkins (London Irish)
17. Emmanuel Iyogun (Northampton Saints)
18. Harvey Beaton (Saracens)
19. Hugh Tizard (Harlequins)
20. Jack Clement (Gloucester Rugby)
21. Jack Van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers)
22. George Barton (Gloucester Rugby)
23. Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers)
England men U20s Six Nations fixtures

France v England
Saturday, 1 February, KO 8pm GMT, Stade des Alpes, Grenoble

Scotland v England
Friday 7 February, KO 7.30pm GMT, Myreside, Edinburgh

England v Ireland
Friday, 21 February, KO 7.45pm GMT, Franklin’s Gardens, Northampton. Live on Sky Sports
Tickets: englandrugby.com/tickets

England v Wales
Friday, 6 March, KO 7.45pm GMT, Kingsholm Stadium, Gloucester. Live on Sky Sports.
Tickets: englandrugby.com/tickets

Italy v England
Sunday, 15 March, KO 5.30pm GMT, Payanini Rugby Center, Verona

England men U20s got their Six Nations campaign off to a winning start with a 29-24 bonus-point win over France in Grenoble.
England U20 Men
England led 10-9 at the break through Rusiate Tuima’s try and five points from the boot of Josh Hodge while Joris Moura kicked all of France’s points.
Second-half scores from Hodge and Tom Roebuck gave England a 24-12 lead but tries from Jordan Joseph and Ethan Dumortier levelled the game.
With just a minute remaining though Richard Capstick bundled over after England went through several phases to seal victory.
Alan Dickens’ side, who were fielding nine debutants at U20 level, started well and Hodge sent over an early penalty to give England the lead which Moura cancelled out inside 15 minutes. Soon after he put the hosts 6-3 ahead with a long-range penalty in a see-saw first half.
France were putting England’s scrum under pressure as the half wore on and a further indiscretion saw them penalised and Maura land his third kick.
England bounced back immediately though, Max Ojomoh jinking his way through midfield before offloading to Tuima to power over which Hodge converted for a 10-9 lead.
Gabriel Hamer-Webb was sent to the sin bin with 25 minutes of the half remaining and Moura kicked France in the lead.
However, England were back in front on the hour through Hodge who collected the ball on halfway and seared his way through the France defence before stepping inside a final defender to cross.
Roebuck had a third England try, collecting a loose ball on halfway to run home unchallenged which Vunipola converted.
Joseph bundled over off the back of a 5m scrum to reduce the deficit, with Tiberghien converting for 19-24.
Emmanuel Iyogun and Paul Mallez were sent to the sin bin as the closing stages became increasingly frantic and Dumortier was over in the corner to level with five minutes remaining.
But England had one score left in them though and Capstick sealed the bonus point late on.
Dickens’s side will next take on Scotland in Myreside, Edinburgh on Friday, before a first home game against Ireland in Northampton, Franklin’s Gardens.

https://www.talkingrugbyunion.co.uk/josh-hodge-the-apprentice/25514.htm

A man in a hurry.

England men U20s head coach Alan Dickens has named his side to take on Scotland on Friday in Myreside, Edinburgh.

Dickens has made two changes to the side that defeated France in their opening fixture of the U20 Six Nations Championship.

Harvey Beaton replaces Luke Green in the front row, while Freddie Steward comes in for injured Josh Hodge at full back.

There are two changes among the replacements also, Josh Gray coming in for Jack Clement, while Ollie Sleightholme is also named as a finisher.

Buy tickets to see England U20s in the Six Nations - here
England men U20s sealed a 29-24 bonus-point victory over France in round one of the tournament.

The side are led by head coach Dickens, who is supported by Alex Codling (forwards) and James Tirrell (backs).

Alan Dickens said: “The players have recovered well after a physical game in France on Saturday, analysed the match, and we’ve had a good week’s preparation ahead of Friday’s fixture.

“We’ve implemented a couple of new things ahead of the game and we know it is going to be another huge challenge that we have to take very seriously.

“The last time we played in Scotland they came out winners so we’ll be well prepared for what awaits us on Friday. It will no doubt be another challenging environment, but the players have shown they can handle that and I’ve been impressed by how quickly they have gelled as a group.

“There are always areas to work on and improve, but this is a new group, we had nine debutants at U20s level start last Saturday’s game so this team will only get better the more they play together and I’m expecting an improvement in Edinburgh on Friday.

“What impressed me on Saturday was our ability to adapt tactically and we know that will again be important against Scotland.”

England men U20s team to play Scotland
Friday 7 February, KO 7.30pm GMT, Myreside, Edinburgh

15. Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers)
14. Gabriel Hamer-Webb (Bath Rugby)
13. Connor Doherty (Sale Sharks)
12. Max Ojomoh (Bath Rugby)
11. Tom Roebuck (Sale Sharks)
10. Manu Vunipola (Saracens)
9. Sam Maunder (Exeter Chiefs) - captain
1. James Whitcombe (Leicester Tigers)
2. Theo Dan (Saracens)
3. Harvey Beaton (Saracens)
4. George Hammond (Harlequins)
5. Ben Donnell (London Irish)
6. Richard Capstick (Exeter Chiefs)
7. JJ Tonks (Northampton Saints)
8. Rusi Tuima (Exeter Chiefs)

Replacements
16. Ben Atkins (London Irish)
17. Emmanuel Iyogun (Northampton Saints)
18. Luke Green (London Irish)
19. Hugh Tizard (Harlequins)
20. Josh Gray (Gloucester Rugby)
21. Jack Van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers)
22. George Barton (Gloucester Rugby)
23. Ollie Sleightholme (Northampton Saints)

BigTrevsbigmac wrote:https://www.talkingrugbyunion.co.uk/josh-hodge-the-apprentice/25514.htm

A man in a hurry.

Coupe of really good fullbacks this year. Steward comes in this week and has already played first team rugby for Tigers. He's a bit if a unit as well at 6 foot 4 and is filling out. Not rapid like Hodge but eats up the ground and has a big boot on him.

Steward reminds me of Tim Stimpson. If he turns out that good we have a cracking player at Leicester for the next decade and more. If he is better then England have a cracking player.

So we could have a few full backs pushing shortly. Hodge will probsbly have to move to a better club.

Hes way better than Hammersley...

GeordieFalcon wrote:So we could have a few full backs pushing shortly. Hodge will probsbly have to move to a better club.  

Hes way better than Hammersley...

When Hammersley comes back he can go to Sale?

Hammersley is not on loan Sam. They can keep him.

Maybe Dean will go and we can get a young forward thinking coach who can make use of the upcoming Hodge, Kelemeti, Haydon Wood, Passman etc.....

Or you can always send him down to Welford Road to join up with Steward as the develop them alongside Owolfela as the future back three for club and country.

But the future England wingers are up here with us...Adam Radwan and Morgan Passman.

So we could have the England back three....if we had a forward thinking Manager....

Radwan is 22 now and still being talked about as a prospect. At this rate he'll the be rugby equivalent of Jesse Lingaard, except that Lingaard got capped. Radwan has the blinding pace to be a big deal but he needs to get playing regularly and become the big deal before he hits his mid 20s and his chance has been taken by somebody else.

Radwan starts every game.

PS Its the falcons...to us Alex Tait is still a prospect...

GeordieFalcon wrote:Radwan starts every game.

PS Its the falcons...to us Alex Tait is still a prospect...

Hopefully a season of tearing up the Championship will put Radwan in a good position to play a lot in the Prem and push on. May isn't getting any younger so England will need the next speedster off the rank if they are going to continue playing in the same way. If he can take a high ball then he might get in sooner rather than later because on the evidence of last weekend two thirds of our back three can't.

Good game so far, England have looked slicker and perhaps a tad more skilful whilst the Scottish scrum is hammering their English counterparts. It manshaming territory at the moment and I think we'll have a man in the bin before long.

Freddie Steward looks a good player, safe under the high ball and powerful, perhaps a tad heavy legged? Haven't seen him in space enough, took his try well mind.

Game streaming live on the SRU website:
https://www.scottishrugby.org/fanzone/live-scotland-v-england

Our line out is knickers though.

Ref doesn’t seem to care about the offside line either

Made it over the line, but close

Ref took an interestingly different view of several of the laws.

Only caught the second half. Odd game, Scotland the better team as they were far more cohesive and operated to an obvious game plan and structure. England had the better players though and when they clicked they were fairly devastating, problem for England was the sheer number of errors that were completely unforced.

Freddie Steward is a rock solid option at fullback. The fact he's built like a lock (6 foot 4) does help as getting higher or out muscling him in the air is going to take a lot of effort. Highly rated at Tigers with the expectation he'll be the long term 15. Not the quickest fullback but his long stride does eat up the ground deceptively quickly.

Given the pressure at the lineout and scrum I wonder if we'll see Martin come in and add some ballast and aggression.

From the little I saw I was very impressed by the Scottish physicality. They have finally found some big U20's

Good to see Lineen and Munro are still able to coach the same hard as nails,hard to beat mentality, they were able to produce at Glasgow,turning the team from a laughing stock into a professional and competitive outfit. If 4 or 5 of this team can successfully step up to pro level that will have done a great job.

Cumbrian wrote:Good game so far, England have looked slicker and perhaps a tad more skilful whilst the Scottish scrum is hammering their English counterparts.  It manshaming territory at the moment and I think we'll have a man in the bin before long.

Freddie Steward looks a good player, safe under the high ball and powerful, perhaps a tad heavy legged?  Haven't seen him in space enough, took his try well mind.

Game streaming live on the SRU website:
https://www.scottishrugby.org/fanzone/live-scotland-v-england

Steward doesnlook laboured when running, but actually covers the ground a lot quicker than he looks.

LondonTiger wrote:

Cumbrian wrote:Good game so far, England have looked slicker and perhaps a tad more skilful whilst the Scottish scrum is hammering their English counterparts.  It manshaming territory at the moment and I think we'll have a man in the bin before long.

Freddie Steward looks a good player, safe under the high ball and powerful, perhaps a tad heavy legged?  Haven't seen him in space enough, took his try well mind.

Game streaming live on the SRU website:
https://www.scottishrugby.org/fanzone/live-scotland-v-england

Steward doesnlook laboured when running, but actually covers the ground a lot quicker than he looks.

It's the rangey stride isn't it. The leg turnover is quite slow but because he's so tall and stride so long he just eats up the ground.

Just a heads up for anybody wanting to watch the match vs. Ireland. The game is being broadcast on Sky Sports Mix, which isn't displayed on the Sky TV guide next to the other sports channels (why would it be?!), it is channel 145 and closer to the likes of Sky Atlantic.

Ta cumbrian.

Thanks, Cumbrian

Powerful first try from England. Ireland have looked dangerous too.

Christ, less said about that the better from an English point of view. England just don't look up for it at all. Ireland are smashing the collision and England just haven't had any answers. England barely had the ball, look dangerous when they do, but some seriously poor decision making has allowed Ireland to basically set up camp inside the England 40 for practically the whole game.

38 against Scotland
36 against Wales
39 against England

So far at least, that's one methodical, consistent machine Ireland have purring.