Five changes for England Under 20s

Mar 12 • General News, Six Nations • 2514 Views • Comments Off on Five changes for England Under 20s

ENGLAND Under 20s have made five changes to their side to play Italy after last Friday’s emphatic 67-7 win against Wales in Newcastle.

Nick Walshe and Ian Peel’s side head to the Stadio Peroni on Friday evening (kick-off 6pm GMT) knowing that only a win will give them a chance of retaining the Championship, while Ireland will also need to defeat France.

Full back Aaron Morris, wing Nathan Earle, fly half Sam Olver, lock Jonny Hill and No. 8 James Chisholm all come into the side and will be captained by Saracens’ Maro Itoje who moves into the back row from lock.

Scrum half Callum Braley comes back onto the bench after recovering from injury, and Walshe says that his side will be under no illusions come kick off time.

He said: “We enjoyed the win against Wales but focus is very much on the task in hand and preparing to play a well-drilled Italy side. There’s no doubt that they have improved over the past couple of seasons and we know that we’ll be in for a tough match.”

England U20s starting XV to play Italy

15 Aaron Morris (Bedford Blues)
14 Howard Packman (Northampton Saints)
13 Nick Tompkins (Saracens)
12 Harry Sloan (Harlequins)
11 Nathan Earle (Saracens)
10 Sam Olver (Northampton Saints)
9 Henry Taylor (Loughborough University)

1 Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi (Northampton Saints)
2 Harry Thacker (Leicester Tigers)
3 Scott Wilson (Newcastle Falcons)
4 Tom Ellis (Bath Rugby)
5 Jonny Hill (Gloucester Rugby)
6 Maro Itoje (Saracens, captain)
7 Joel Conlon (Exeter Chiefs)
8 James Chisholm (Harlequins)

Replacements:

16 Tom Woolstencroft (Bath Rugby)
17 Alex Lundberg (London Wasps)
18 Paul Hill (Leeds Carnegie)
19 Ross Moriarty (Gloucester Rugby)
20 Hayden Thompson Stringer (Saracens)
21 Callum Braley (Bristol Rugby)
22 Billy Burns (Gloucester Rugby)
23 Henry Purdy (Leicester Tigers)