Ethan Grayson, Tom Litchfield and George Hendy have all be selected in England Under-20s starting line-up for the Six Nations Under-20 Summer Series opener – with Northampton Saints teammate Tom Lockett also named on the bench for the clash against South Africa.
Head coach Alan Dickens has named the quartet of Saints in his 26-man side to face the Junior Spingboks in the first pool round of the tournament at Payanini Centre, Verona (kick-off: 4pm, BST) on Friday 24 June.
At centre and wing respectively, Grayson and Litchfield are in line to claim their sixth caps at U20 level in the Series opener, with Hendy set to earn his fourth cap as he starts at fullback in Verona – while Lockett will add to his four caps to date if he enters the action from the bench.
Head coach Dickens said: “The team is excited to play against South Africa although they are a little bit of an unknown as they haven’t played any games this year at an international level.
“The opportunities for this group to learn and develop over this series are immense and I’m as excited about the players having meaningful game time as I am the final result.”
ENGLAND U20s vs SOUTH AFRICA U20s
Six Nations Under-20 Summer Series
Friday 24 June, 2022
Kick-off: 4pm (BST)
15 George Hendy (Northampton Saints, Caps 3)
14 Tom Litchfield (Northampton Saints, Caps 5)
13 Ethan Grayson (Northampton Saints, Caps 5)
12 Rekeiti Ma’asi-White (Wasps, Caps 1)
11 Iwan Stephens (Newcastle Falcons, Caps 1)
10 Fin Smith, Worcester Warriors, Caps 5
9 Tom Carr-Smith (Bath Rugby, Caps 3)
1 Tumy Onasanya (Sale Sharks, uncapped)
2 John Stewart (Bath Rugby, Caps 5)
3 Jevaughn Warren (Saracens, Caps 0)
4 Ewan Richards (Bath Rugby, Caps 7)
5 Lewis Chessum (Leicester Tigers, Caps 3)
6 Chandler Cunningham-South (London Irish, Caps 3)
7 Emeka Ilione (Leicester Tigers, Caps 6) (C)
8 Greg Fisilau (Wasps, Caps 2)
Replacements:
16 Finn Theobald-Thomas (Worcester, Caps 2)
17 Andrew Turner (Bristol Bears, Caps 0)
18 Mikey Summerfield (London Irish, Caps 5)
19 Tom Lockett (Northampton Saints, Caps 4)
20 Lucas Brooke (London Irish, Caps 4)
21 Ethan Staddon (Bath Rugby, Caps 0)
22 Toby Knight (Saracens, Caps 5)
23 Charlie Bracken (Saracens, Caps 0)
24 Jed Walsh (Leicester Tigers, Caps 0)
25 Conor Oresanya (Harlequins, Caps 0)
26 Tobi Wilson (Worcester Warriors, Caps 0)
England’s Pool A games
Round 1: England v South Africa, Friday 24 June, KO 4pm (BST), Payanini Centre, Verona
Round 2: France v England, Wednesday 29 June, KO 4pm (BST), Payanini Centre, Verona
Round 3: Ireland v England, Tuesday 5 July, KO 7pm (BST), Payanini Centre, Verona
Play offs
Tuesday 12 July, KO TBC, Stadio Monigo, Treviso
Every game of the Under 20 Summer Series will be streamed via the Six Nations Rugby U20 YouTube channel.
