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Coles and Dingwall start for England U20 against Italy

Northampton Saints pair Alex Coles and Fraser Dingwall will start for England as they face Italy in the second round of the World Rugby U20 Championship, with Ollie Sleightholme also named on the bench.

Following a frustrating opening defeat to Ireland, England will regroup to face Italy tomorrow (Saturday 8th June, kick-off 7.30pm BST) in Sante Fe, before taking on Australia in their final pool match on 12 June. 

Dingwall will again captain the side, switching to inside centre, with lock Coles another of just four players to start their second match of the tournament. Sleightholme scored twice in England’s opening clash and will hope to make an impact from amongst the replacements against Italy.

Head coach Steve Bates said: “There are a lot of changes but we’ve picked a team that we know can be really competitive, I want to see the players put in a performance that they are proud of and for everyone to contribute.

“We agonised over the first selection and picking this XV has been equally as tough, but this is a strong team and we expect them to play with belief and confidence and play the sort of rugby we saw at times against Ireland but with a bit more consistency and discipline.”

All of England U20s' fixtures are being streamed live on World Rugby's platforms, with the knock-out stages (17 June) and finals day (22 June) being shown live on ITV.

ENGLAND U20s SIDE TO FACE ITALY
World Rugby U20 Championship
Saturday 8 June, 2019
Sante Fe
Kick-off: 7.30pm (BST)

15 Josh Hodge (Newcastle Falcons)
14 Tom Seabrook (Gloucester Rugby)
13 Connor Doherty (Sale Sharks)
12 Fraser Dingwall (capt, Northampton Saints)
11 Arron Reed (Sale Sharks)
10 Tom De Glanville (Bath Rugby)
9 Sam Maunder (Exeter Chiefs)

1 Kai Owen (Worcester Warriors)
2 Will Capon (Bristol Bears)
3 Alfie Petch (Exeter Chiefs)
4 Richard Capstick (Exeter Chiefs)
5 Alex Coles (Northampton Saints)
6 Josh Basham (Newcastle Falcons)
7 Aaron Hinkley (Gloucester Rugby)
8 Rusiate Tuima (Exeter Chiefs)

Replacements
16 Nic Dolly (Sale Sharks)
17 James Kenny (Exeter Chiefs)
18 Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers)
19 Olly Adkins (Gloucester Rugby)
20 Joel Kpoku (Saracens)
21 Ted Hill (Worcester Warriors)
22 Tom Willis (Wasps Rugby)
23 Ollie Fox (Yorkshire Carnegie)
24 Luke James (Sale Sharks)
25 Cameron Redpath (Sale Sharks)
26 Ollie Sleightholme (Northampton Saints)

ENGLAND U20 FIXTURES
8 June: England U20s v Italy U20s (KO 7.30pm BST), live on World Rugby platforms.
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.​ 

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