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England A book clash with Ireland A for first meeting in 10 years

Cadan Murley, Oscar Beard, Alfie Barbeary, Tom Pearson, Guy Pepper and Jamie Blamire of England A sing the national anthem prior to the rugby international match between England A and Portugal at Mattioli Woods Welford Road Stadium on February 25, 2024 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Patrick Khachfe/Getty Images)

England A are set to face Ireland A at Bristol Bears’ Ashton Gate Stadium next February, the RFU have announced.

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The meeting will take place on Sunday, February 23, a day after England’s senior side host Scotland at Twickenham and Ireland play Wales in Cardiff in round three of the Six Nations.

The match will come three weeks after Ireland welcome Steve Borthwick’s side to the Aviva Stadium to get their Six Nations campaigns underway.

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England A have already booked a clash with Australia A in November at the Stoop during the Autumn Nations Series, having reprised the team earlier this year against Portugal after an eight-year absence.

Prior to the win over Portugal, England A last played in 2016, under the title Saxons, against South Africa A during the senior side’s tour. The year before they had faced Ireland A, then Wolfhounds, at Musgrave Park, where the visitors came away 18-9 winners with Henry Slade contributing 13 points.

Fixture
Internationals
England
22 - 24
Full-time
New Zealand
All Stats and Data

The fixture against Ireland A will follow a familiar format, with the coach being selected by the RFU in consultation with Premiership Rugby, and the matchday 23 being selected by Borthwick and RFU executive director of performance Conor O’Shea.

“Next year’s game is a fantastic development opportunity for the respective unions, each of whom possesses some of the most exciting young prospects in rugby,” O’Shea said.

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“Our aim is to have consistent gametime in each international period for our emerging players. This fixture, alongside the Australia A game, is testament to the work being put in to ensure there is a window of opportunity for players and coaches outside of the England senior men’s set-up.

“We look forward to welcoming Ireland’s players and staff to Ashton Gate in 2025. It is a fantastic stadium worthy of hosting what promises to be a memorable occasion for all involved.”

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H
Hellhound 25 minutes ago
France put World Cup pain behind them with unbeaten run in November

France is starting to look like they are finally over their WC headache, although they were lucky that NZ had a very bad game. The Argies as usual is one game good, the next bad. If they can sort that out and be more consistent, they could become contenders for the WC.


NZ, Argentina (if they are more consistent), and now the Wallabies too is in an upward curve (can they be consistent?), as well as Fiji(as inconsistent as Argentina) looks like possible contenders. The Boks will be as usual a huge threat to defend their title. Things are looking up for the South, so the North should rightfully beware of the Southern Hemisphere threat.


With the French looking dangerous, the English with their close runs (mostly a mindset problem) and the Scottish seems to be the NH main contenders. The Irish is good, but not excellent anymore. They are more overbearing and with their glory days mostly gone with old players hanging on by a thread, by 2027 if they don't start adding in the younger players, they won't make it past yet another WC Quarter final. The problem is that their youngsters, while good is nothing special.


That is just 8 teams without the Irish that can become real WC contenders. Lots of hickups to be sorted still for these teams, excluding the Boks to become a threat. Make no mistake, the top Tier is much closer than people realise and the 2027 WC will be a really great WC, possibly the best contended WC ever.

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