Five Northampton Saints Academy stars will tour Georgia with England Under-20s next month, in preparation for the 2024 World Rugby U20 Championship – with Toby Cousins, George Makepeace-Cubitt, Archie McParland, Henry Pollock and Craig Wright named in the 30-man squad.
The group of young Saints – who have 25 U20s caps between them already – will travel to Tbilisi for two uncapped Tests against their hosts on 7 and 12 June at the Avchala Stadium.
Half-backs Makepeace-Cubitt and McParland both featured for England in last weekend’s friendly against Coventry and link up with Saints teammates Cousins, Pollock and Wright for the tour.
Each game kicks-off at 3pm (BST) and will be streamed live on Georgian Rugby social media channels.
England U20 Men’s head coach Mark Mapletoft said: “As our programme builds towards the U20 Championship this summer, we’ve further refined our wider squad ahead of the challenge of Georgia in the coming weeks.
“Lado [Kilasonia] and his team have proved a testing opponent in recent encounters, and we’re both confident that these upcoming games will mutually strengthen our respective preparations ahead of our trip to South Africa.
“I want to congratulate all players involved and I’m confident they’ll embrace the challenges set in front of them both in training and in-game scenarios.”
England Under-20s squad to travel to Georgia
FORWARDS
Joe Bailey (Exeter Chiefs, Newton Abbot RFC, 5 caps)
Finn Carnduff (Leicester Tigers, Market Harborough RFC, 15 caps)
Harvey Cuckson (Bath Rugby, Mold RFC, 2 caps)
Afolabi Fasogbon (Gloucester Rugby, Bishop Wand School, 11 caps)
James Halliwell (Bristol Bears, Thornbury RFC, 10 caps)
James Isaacs (Saracens, Hemel Hempstead Camelot RFC, 3 caps)
Kane James (Exeter Chiefs, St Peters RFC, 4 caps)
Junior Kpoku (Racing 92, Saracens Amateurs, 4 caps)
Nathan Michelow (Saracens, Brentwood Rugby, 10 caps)
Cameron Miell (Leicester Tigers, Paul Roos, uncapped)
Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks, Broadstreet RFC, 14 caps)
Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints, Buckingham Rugby Club, 5 caps)
Billy Sela (Bath Rugby, Royal Wootton Bassett RFC, 6 caps)
Olamide Sodeke (Saracens, Blackheath Rugby Club, 4 caps)
George Timmins (Bath Rugby, Market Harborough RFC, uncapped)
Craig Wright (Northampton Saints, Braintree Rugby Club, 5 caps)
BACKS
Ollie Allan (Leicester Tigers, Hungerford RFC, uncapped)
Josh Bellamy (Harlequins, Rosslyn Park, 4 caps)
Jack Bracken (Saracens, St Albans Rugby Club, uncapped)
Toby Cousins (Northampton Saints, Bugbrooke RFC, 6 caps)
Angus Hall (Saracens, Sevenoaks Rugby Club, uncapped)
Ioan Jones (Gloucester Rugby, Minchinhampton RFC, 4 caps)
Sean Kerr (Harlequins, Sutton and Epsom Rugby Club, 4 caps)
George Makepeace-Cubitt (Northampton Saints, Reading Abbey RFC, 4 caps)
Archie McParland (Northampton Saints, Mold RFC, 5 caps)
Charlie Myall (Leicester Tigers, Maidenhead Rugby Club, uncapped)
Ben Redshaw (Newcastle Falcons, West Park Leeds RFC, 5 caps)
Oli Spencer (Newcastle Falcons, Epping Rams Rugby, 5 caps)
Ben Waghorn (Harlequins, Chipstead Rugby Club, 7 caps)
Alex Wills (Sale Sharks, Droitwich Rugby Club, 7 caps) 149
England U20 Men’s pre-World Rugby U20 Championship fixtures
- Saturday 25 May – Coventry RFC 54-40 England U20 Men – Butts Park Arena
- Friday 7 June – Georgia U20 vs England U20 Men – Avchala Stadium (kick-off: 3pm)
- Wednesday 12 June – Georgia U20 vs England U20 Men – Avchala Stadium (kick-off: 3pm
