England U20 Squad- 2022

First topic message reminder :

The U20s squad has been announced.  They seem to be a somewhat unknown quantity this year.   Normally I would see five or six nations that really standout as familiar and only a couple that I didn’t recognise.  This time I had to really research a lot of these names and therefore the positions may be slightly incorrect (especially in centres/ back-row).

Props:

Will Hobson (Harlequins) (LH)
Mark Dormer (Newcastle) (LH)
Mike Summerfield (London Irish) (LH?)

Fin Baxter (Harlequins) (TH)
Robin Hardwick (Wasps) (TH)

Hooker:

Lucas Brooke (London Irish)
Ollie Fletcher (Newcastle)
John Stewart (Bath)


Second Row:

Alfie Bell (Wasps)
Tom Lockett (Northampton)
Charlie Rice (Bristol)
Ewan Richards (Bath)
Alex Wardell (Saracens)

Back Row:

Kofi Cripps (Wasps) (OS)
Emeka Ilione (Leicester) (BS)
Geordie Irvine (Northampton) (No.8)
Toby Knight (Saracens)
Guy Pepper (Newcastle) (OS)

Scrum Half:

Tom Carr-Smith (Bath)
Matty Jones (Gloucester)

Fly Half:

Jamie Benson (Harlequins)
Louie Johnson (Newcastle)
Fin Smith (Worcester)

Centres:

Seb Atkinson (Worcester) (IC)
Ethan Grayson (Northampton (IC)
Olly Hartley (Wasps) (IC)
Will Joseph (London Irish)(OC)
Tom Litchfield (Northampton)(IC)

Wing:

Deago Bailey (Bristol)
Iwan Stephens (Newcastle)


Full Back:

Henry Arundell (London Irish)
George Hendy (Northampton)

England's backs have some serious pace and power...

Game over now. Poor defence that though.

English hooker needs to learn the new rules, can't keep being pinged for avoidable offences.

Arundell 5 carries 229 yards....

Yeah rhats some stats!!

Arundel....Will be off to Bath soon...

I've heard the buzz about Arundel, but this is the first time I've seen him play. He is really bloody good isn't he? Future looks bright at full back doesn't it? Old man Steward better watch his back.

GeordieFalcon wrote:Arundel....Will be off to Bath soon...

That's actually the funny thing about it.

He grew up in the Bath catchment area. Ended up at LI as he went to school at Harrow.

They're giving something back after all these years.

I've seen him play 3 games of rugby and he's done some absurd things in every one. Hopefully he keeps developing as he could go a long way.

2 pretty decent fullbacks in Arundell and Hendy!

England ran a way with it in the second half, made Scotland look a poor side. Which was not the case of the whole game.

majesticimperialman wrote:England ran a way with it in the second half, made Scotland look a poor side. Which was not the case of the whole game.

England played into the wind first half, Scotland second half. Can tend to mess with the overall balance of the game.

Arundell looks a talent. I'm interested to see whether he can keep pin balling through tackles at senior level. His acceleration and footwork are exceptional. LI seem to have a conveyor belt of back three talent these days.

The wind did seem to be a major factor given the kicking game from both sides.

Was watching the mighty boro knock man u out of the cup so missed this. The tries look pretty special. Looking forward to the Wales game now.

It was a funny game. England started very brightly but didnt score. Scotland took over and at a guess had the majority of possession and territory for the rest of the half, and ground out two decent tries. In this time their whole pack seems more coherent and stronger than the England pack, despite the usual ridiculous specimens we seem to produce.

Worth saying Leatherbarrow the Scottish 8 looks like he's playing a different game from everyone else.

In between the two Scottish tries you have Arundell, who takes the ball maybe 2m from his line, sees what is in front goes past the first guys then doesn't stop until he gets to the other end. England score another try from the forwards just before half time.

2nd half starts off the same way for the Scots. They get a third try and for a moment it seems as if they might do it.

Then Arundell comes in again, doing pretty much the same as he did 1st time around. What I really liked is that I seem to remember him telling the scrum half who he put back on side to be there for the offload, all while he's half way through sprinting the length of the pitch.

After that England were all over Scotland for the rest of the game.

For Italy.

No wonder boy this week (no idea why) but Hendy was doing his best to copy Arundell when he got on the pitch last week. Ilione starts. Carr-Smith out. Baxter captains.

15. George Hendy, 14. Deago Bailey, 13. Tom Litchfield, 12. Ethan Grayson, 11. Francis Moore (Saracens), 10. Jamie Benson, 9. Matty Jones, 1. Fin Baxter, 2. John Stewart, 3. Mike Summerfield, 4. Alfie Bell, 5. Tom Lockett, 6. Alex Wardell, 7. Toby Knight, 8. Emeka Ilione.

Replacements

16. Finn Theobald-Thomas (Worcester Warriors), 17. Mark Dormer, 18. Will Hobson, 19. Charlie Rice, 20. Greg Fisilau, 21. Sam Edwards, 22.Louie Johnson, 23. Ollie Dawkins.

England massively under the cosh.

Italy have some canny players coming through...

Scrum is getting mullered.

Italy really giving England food for thought.

England being savaged in the scrum, and being kept away from the Italian line.

But are England bad or Italy just totally up for it and fighting for everything.

Can their fitness last.

Is this a taste of what might happen against the senior side on sunday?

Jesus.

GeordieFalcon wrote:But are England bad or Italy just totally up for it and fighting for everything.  

Can their fitness last.

Think both sides have found the reffing of the breakdown difficult. No lee way and they're slow to realise that. England just need to play a little more territory and take the points when they're there.

No 7&1/2 wrote:Jesus.

Is he playing tonight?

majesticimperialman wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:Jesus.

Is he playing tonight?

That was just me being incredulous at your comments.

England keep taking quick taps rather than taking points.

No 7&1/2 wrote:

majesticimperialman wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:Jesus.

Is he playing tonight?

That was just me being incredulous at your comments.

In other words you are simply taking the PPPPPP again.

Besides i thought this was the under 20s tournament. Mot the over 2000s tournament?

Wow England...

No 7&1/2 wrote:

majesticimperialman wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:Jesus.

Is he playing tonight?

That was just me being incredulous at your comments.

In other words you are simply taking the PPPPPP again.

Besides i thought this was the under 20s tournament. Mot the over 2000s tournament?

Oh of course I am. It's too easy not to.

What a thoroughly depressing load of sh!te

England have been out played tonight. Italy deserved winners.

I have only watched bits and pieces. Italy on top in the forwards but there were still more than enough opportunities to score, but it all seemed so disorganised, so leaden footed, so lacking in imagination, so inept.

Twitter talking about the SH having a stinker, something was definitely very off

Certainly no Grand Slam for the England under 20s this year.

Just like the senior side, No Grand Slam for the senior side either.

And if the senior side play like the lads tonight, 5th place last year may be 6th place this year.

Jesus.

majesticimperialman wrote:Certainly no Grand Slam for the England under 20s this year.

Just like the senior side, No Grand Slam for the senior side either.

And if the senior side play like the lads tonight, 5th place last year may be 6th place this year.

It won't be. The U20's is such an odd format in that it is so dependent on instant chemistry and players from all kinds of places. If we got our best U20 players out together it would include the likes of Fin Smith, JVP and even George Martin. It would be a very much stronger team.

Jury is still out on where the seniors are, but the main issues seem to be lack of experience. Last week we got mugged by a tougher, more experienced and very streetwise Scotland after outplaying them in Edinburgh for most of the match. A few months ago we stuffed Australia and then beat South Africa in what was an epic match up. Going forward both Ireland and France look very tough. but we still should not be afraid of any of them.

No 7&1/2 wrote:Jesus.

Yes my child.

Would you like to confess your sins right now?

I am sure their will be allot of sins to confess right now.

I'm confused as to whether you're serious or just a wum.

lostinwales wrote:

majesticimperialman wrote:Certainly no Grand Slam for the England under 20s this year.

Just like the senior side, No Grand Slam for the senior side either.

And if the senior side play like the lads tonight, 5th place last year may be 6th place this year.

It won't be. The U20's is such an odd format in that it is so dependent on instant chemistry and players from all kinds of places. If we got our best U20 players out together it would include the likes of Fin Smith, JVP and even George Martin. It would be a very much stronger team.

Jury is still out on where the seniors are, but the main issues seem to be lack of experience. Last week we got mugged by a tougher, more experienced and very streetwise Scotland after outplaying them in Edinburgh for most of the match. A few months ago we stuffed Australia and then beat South Africa in what was an epic match up. Going forward both Ireland and France look very tough. but we still should not be afraid of any of them.

I'd add Arundell to that too ...

Yikes that’s a huge win for Italy. In recent years they have been surprisingly good at this level.

Heaf wrote:

lostinwales wrote:

majesticimperialman wrote:Certainly no Grand Slam for the England under 20s this year.

Just like the senior side, No Grand Slam for the senior side either.

And if the senior side play like the lads tonight, 5th place last year may be 6th place this year.

It won't be. The U20's is such an odd format in that it is so dependent on instant chemistry and players from all kinds of places. If we got our best U20 players out together it would include the likes of Fin Smith, JVP and even George Martin. It would be a very much stronger team.

Jury is still out on where the seniors are, but the main issues seem to be lack of experience. Last week we got mugged by a tougher, more experienced and very streetwise Scotland after outplaying them in Edinburgh for most of the match. A few months ago we stuffed Australia and then beat South Africa in what was an epic match up. Going forward both Ireland and France look very tough. but we still should not be afraid of any of them.

I'd add Arundell to that too ...

(In the main squad - Quirke and Freeman both 20)

Smith and Arundell are the only players mentioned there that are young enough. The others are all over age.

Really poor performance, but fair play to Italy. They are really starting to get their age grade rugby in order.

Margin_Walker wrote:Smith and Arundell are the only players mentioned there that are young enough. The others are all over age.

Really poor performance, but fair play to Italy. They are really starting to get their age grade rugby in order.

Is the limit based on age on a specific date?

lostinwales wrote:

Margin_Walker wrote:Smith and Arundell are the only players mentioned there that are young enough. The others are all over age.

Really poor performance, but fair play to Italy. They are really starting to get their age grade rugby in order.

Is the limit based on age on a specific date?

It's based on calendar year. Need to be 19 or younger on 31/12/21.

So basically anyone born in 2002 or later is good. Anyone in 2001 is too old.

The last I checked it was age at the end of the preceding season, i.e. age on 31st August so anyone born Sep 2001 onwards would be good. Is it done differently at international level due to the different NH/SH seasons??

Either way, the likes of JvP and Martin mentioned above would not be available.

Big wrote:The last I checked it was age at the end of the preceding season, i.e. age on 31st August so anyone born Sep 2001 onwards would be good.  Is it done differently at international level due to the different NH/SH seasons??

Either way, the likes of JvP and Martin mentioned above would not be available.

I know in some cases domestically it's been season/school year based. For international U20s its definitely calendar year though.

You get a situation where some lads have 2 years of U20s eligibility after leaving school (Jan - Aug births) and some only get 1 year (Sept - Dec births)

Apparently Henry Arundel has a Scottish Granny!

Just saying

RFU site:
1. Fin Baxter
2. Finn Theobald-Thomas (Worcester Warriors, Caps 1)
3. Will Hobson
4. Charlie Rice
5. Alfie Bell
6. Chandler Cunningham-South (London Irish, Caps 0)
7. Toby Knight
8. Emeka Ilione
9. Sam Edwards
10. Jamie Benson
11. Cassius Cleaves (Harlequins, Caps 0)
12. Ethan Grayson
13. Jacob Cusick (Leicester Tigers, Caps 0)
14. Deago Bailey
15. Henry Arundell

Replacements

16. Joe Vajner (London Irish, Caps 0)
17. Archie McArthur (Wasps, Caps 0)
18. Mike Summerfield
19. Lewis Chessum (Leicester Tigers, Caps 0)
20. Kofi Cripps
21. Matty Jones
22. Louie Johnson
23. Rekeiti Ma’asi White (Wasps, Caps 0)


Quite excited as this will be my first live game since Covid. After that first round got to admit I'm looking forward to seeing Arundell in the flesh. Was impressed by Ilione too.

Watch out for Cassius Cleaves on the wing. He was really stand out in schools rugby for Wellington College.

Cunningham-South is an interesting one too. Fresh off the boat from NZ (Canterbury U19s). Only signed for LI a few weeks ago and presumably has English relatives.

https://images.app.goo.gl/bDzi85HdsT86xMNKA


Chessum Jnr on the bench, clearly taller than his older brother who's 6ft7. I'm sure the hookers are looking forward to him coming on.

formerly known as Sam wrote:https://images.app.goo.gl/bDzi85HdsT86xMNKA


Chessum Jnr on the bench, clearly taller than his older brother who's 6ft7. I'm sure the hookers are looking forward to him coming on.

And possibly even more ginger! Poor bugger.