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England name an U20s Six Nations team with eight new caps
By Liam Heagney
England have named a team for their U20s Six Nations opener away to Italy on Friday that contains eight new caps. Head coach Mark Mapletoft has called on seven players previously capped at this level, including skipper Finn Carnduff who was part of the side captained in 2023 by Lewis Chessum.
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Carnduff was recently involved in his 10th senior Leicester appearance as a replacement in their 20-19 Gallagher Premiership win away to Harlequins last weekend.
He is joined in the starting England line-up by Sale prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour and Northampton scrum-half Archie McParland, who have 19 senior club appearances between them this term across domestic and European competition.
Mapletoft said: “It’s great to be back in a game week with the boys. The team are incredibly excited for Friday’s test against a very challenging Italian side.
“I’d like to congratulate Finn on his captaincy. It’s imperative we have players that can lead by their actions on the pitch and we’re lucky to have such a tight-knit group of players to represent us.
“Over the past week, we’ve challenged the team to push themselves in a highly competitive environment as well as seeking to emulate our core principles of speed, attachment and space.
“Andy Titterrell, the coaches and I have welcomed the intensity that the boys have channelled their rugby through in Bisham recently, and that excites us ahead of a tournament we want to start strongly in this week.”
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England U20s (versus Italy – Friday, 7:15pm, Treviso)
15. Ben Redshaw (Newcastle Falcons)
14. Toby Cousins (Northampton Saints) *
13. Ben Waghorn (Harlequins) *
12. Sean Kerr (Harlequins)
11. Alex Wills (Sale Sharks) *
10. Rory Taylor (Gloucester Rugby)
9. Archie McParland (Northampton Saints)
1. Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks) *
2. Craig Wright (Northampton Saints) *
3. Billy Sela (Bath Rugby)
4. Olamide Sodeke (Saracens)
5. Junior Kpoku (Racing 92)
6. Finn Carnduff (capt) (Leicester Tigers) *
7. Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints)
8. Zach Carr (Harlequins) *
Replacements:
16. Jacob Oliver (Newcastle Falcons)
17. Scott Kirk (Bath Rugby)
18. James Halliwell (Bristol Bears) *
19. Joe Bailey (Exeter Chiefs) *
20. Nathan Michelow (Saracens) *
21. Ben Douglas (Newcastle Falcons)
22. Josh Bellamy (Harlequins)
23. Ollie Spencer (Newcastle)
* denotes player previously capped at U20 level
Very bold from Eng.
McParland, Pollock, and Opoku-Fordjour could all be generational talents. Of course, most people about whom that prediction is made never amount to anything, but that won’t stop me from getting my hopes up!