Toby Cousins, Craig Wright and Henry Pollock all start again for England Under-20 as they take on Oxford University this Saturday (2.00pm).
The young Saints were involved in the Under-20’s first fixture of 2024, narrowly coming out on the wrong side of a thrilling 42 - 33 scoreline against Bath.
Winger Cousins was among the tries in that game and starts out wide once more at Iffley Road, a venue where the Under-20s triumphed 54 - 31 last year.
Up front, clubmates Wright and Pollock retain their spots at hooker and openside respectively, with coaches Mark Mapletoft and Andy Titterall naming a 25-man squad for the U20 Six Nations warm-up.
“There were a lot of positive spells and contributions from the lads against a tough Bath United side that have given us plenty of encouragement heading into Oxford and then Italy,” Mapletoft said.
“We’re looking to really gel this squad away from the pitch and build momentum on it – we have an eager group of boys here that are keen to showcase their talents across a full 80 minutes.
“Rest assured, we as a group have put in a great deal of work at Bisham this past week aiming to match Oxford, who provided a stern test last year ahead of the Six Nations.”
England U20 Men's side to face Oxford University
15 Ioan Jones (Gloucester Rugby)
14 Toby Cousins (Northampton Saints) *
13 Ben Waghorn (Harlequins) *
12 Sean Kerr (Harlequins)
11 Ben Redshaw (Newcastle Falcons)
10 Rory Taylor (Gloucester Rugby)
9 Ben Douglas (Newcastle Falcons)
1 Cameron Miell (Leicester Tigers)
2 Craig Wright (Northampton Saints) *
3 Billy Sela (Bath Rugby)
4 Olamide Sodeke (Saracens)
5 Junior Kpoku (Racing 92)
6 Finn Carnduff (capt) (Leicester Tigers) *
7 Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints)
8 Zach Carr (Harlequins) *
Replacements
16 Jacob Oliver (Newcastle Falcons)
17 Scott Kirk (Bath Rugby)
18 James Halliwell (Bristol Bears) *
19 Joe Bailey (Exeter Chiefs) *
20 Jack Bennett (Bath Rugby)
21 Max Blinkhorn (Nottingham University)
22 Kane James (Exeter Chiefs)
23 Josh Bellamy (Harlequins)
24 Malelili Satala (Leicester Tigers)
25 Ollie Spencer (Newcastle Falcons)
*denotes a player previously capped at U20 level
England U20 Men’s 2024 U20 Six Nations fixtures
2 February - Italy v England - 19:15 - Stadio Monigo, Treviso
9 February - England v Wales - 19:15 - The Recreation Ground
23 February - Scotland v England - 19:15 - Hive Stadium, Edinburgh
8 March - England v Ireland - 19:15 - The Recreation Ground
15 March - France v England - 20:00 - Stade du Hameau, Pau
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