England men U20s side to play Australia in World Rugby U20 Championship
England men U20s head coach Steve Bates has named his side to play Australia in their final pool fixture of the World Rugby U20 Championship in Sante Fe, Argentina (KO 7.30PM, live on World Rugby platforms).
Bates has made seven changes to the side that defeated Italy in their second pool fixture.
James Kenny, who won his first cap as a replacement in that match against Italy, starts at loosehead with prop Joe Heyes returning to the front row.
Joel Kpoku is named at lock, while Ted Hill returns at flanker against unbeaten Australia.
Fly half Manu Vunipola starts the fixture, along with inside centre Cameron Redpath and wing Ollie Sleightholme in the other changes.
England lost their opening match of the Championship to Ireland, and despite victory over Italy cannot advance through to the top four of the tournament.
Arron Reed (Sale Sharks) has been ruled out of the remainder of the tournament through injury and will be replaced by Ollie Hassell-Collins (London Irish), while Alfie Barbeary (Wasps Rugby) will also miss the rest of the World Rugby U20 Championship through suspension.
Steve Bates said: “This is a big fixture for us and the players know we need to raise the level and pace of our game against a good Australia side.
“We always enjoy matches against southern hemisphere opposition, it’s not often these players get the opportunity to face the likes of Australia or New Zealand and they are very excited about that.
“The players feel like they haven’t played their best rugby yet in this competition and the challenge for them is to play with a bit more continuity in the game. We trained very well yesterday with that in mind and I’m hoping to see an exciting performance from us on Wednesday.”
England U20s v Australia
15. Tom de Glanville (Bath Rugby)
14. Ollie Sleightholme (Northampton Saints)
13. Fraser Dingwall (Northampton Saints) – captain
12. Cameron Redpath (Sale Sharks)
11. Josh Hodge (Newcastle Falcons)
10. Manu Vunipola (Saracens)
9. Sam Maunder (Exeter Chiefs)
1. James Kenny (Exeter Chiefs)
2. Will Capon (Bristol Bears)
3. Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers)
4. Joel Kpoku (Saracens)
5. Richard Capstick (Exeter Chiefs)
6. Ted Hill (Worcester Warriors)
7. Aaron Hinkley (Gloucester Rugby)
8. Rusiate Tuima (Exeter Chiefs)
Replacements
16. Nic Dolly (Sale Sharks)
17. Olly Adkins (Gloucester Rugby)
18. Alfie Petch (Exeter Chiefs)
19. Kai Owen (Worcester Warriors)
20. Alex Coles (Northampton Saints)
21. Tom Willis (Wasps Rugby)
22. Ollie Fox (Yorkshire Carnegie)
23. Connor Doherty (Sale Sharks)
24. Luke James (Sale Sharks)
25. Tom Seabrook (Gloucester Rugby)
Unavailable through injury: Josh Basham (Newcastle Falcons)
England U20 fixtures and results
4 June: England U20s 26-42 Ireland U20s
8 June: England U20s 24-23 Italy U20s
12 June: England U20s v Australia U20s (KO 7.30pm BST), live on World Rugby platforms.
Knockout stages on Monday, 17 June and finals day on Saturday, 22 June, live on ITV.
Related Posts
« New Zealand Under 20s named for final pool match of World Championship Retallick signs new deal to extend his career »
