Back row Henry Pollock has been named England Under-18s captain for the first match of their summer tour of South Africa, with Northampton Saints teammates Toby Cousins and Archie McParland also starting the clash.
Head coach Jonathan Pendlebury has named the Saints trio in his first squad of the tour, England will take to Paarl Gymnasium on Friday (19 August, kick-off: 2.30pm BST) for the first game of the three-match international series.
After featuring heavily through the last season in Black, Green and Gold playing a year above their age group as Under-17s, versatile back Cousins and scrum-half McParland saw action for England Under-18s in 2021/22, while flanker Pollock will earn his first cap at this level on Friday.
All England's clashes in South Africa will be streamed via https://supersportschools.com.
England U18s vs South Africa U18s
Friday 19 August, 2022
Paarl Gynamsium
Kick-off: 2.30pm (BST)
15 *Ioan Jones (Gloucester Rugby, Dean Close School)
14 Tom Burton (Newcastle Falcons, Sedbergh School)
13 *Ben Redshaw (Newcastle Falcons, Sedbergh School)
12 Sean Kerr (Harlequins, Whitgift School)
11 *Toby Cousins (Northampton Saints, Oakham School)
10 *Rory Taylor (London Irish, Wellington College)
9 *Archie McParland (Northampton Saints, Stowe School)
1 Louie Trevett (Bristol Bears, Clifton College)
2 Jacob Oliver (Newcastle Falcons, Barnard Castle School)
3 Billy Sela (Bath Rugby, Beechen Cliff)
4 Olamide Sodeke (Saracens, Gravesend Grammar School)
5 Tom Burrow (Yorkshire Academy, Heckmondwike Grammar School)
6 Jack Bennett (Bath Rugby, Monkton Combe School)
7 Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints, Stowe School) CAPTAIN
8 Barney Merrett (Saracens, Sutton Valence School)
Replacements:
16 Loic Keasey (Worcester Warriors, RGS Worcester)
17 Alex O’Driscoll (Wasps, Berkhamsted)
18 Isaac Keller (Newcastle Falcons, Gosforth Academy)
19 Finn Baker (Newcastle Falcons, Sedbergh School)
20 Will Owen (Worcester Warriors, Ellesmere College)
21 George Perkins (Leicester Tigers, Denstone College)
22 Will Wootton (Sale Sharks, Sedbergh School)
23 Raff Weston (Bath Rugby, Beechen Cliff)
24 George Edson (Exeter Chiefs, Truro College)
25 *Conor Byrne (Harlequins, Trinity College)
26 *Will Glister (Wasps, City of Oxford College)
*Capped at U18 level in the 2021-22 season
