Northampton Saints centre Toby Thame will play off the bench for England Under-20s on Thursday against Georgia, in what will be the team’s final fixture ahead of the World Rugby U20 Championship starting next month.
The Red Rose claimed a hard-fought 41-36 win over the same opponents on Saturday in the opening match of the two-match tour, with Thame starting that clash and clubmate Craig Wright scoring off the bench in the second half.
Thursday’s match kicks off at 1.00pm BST (4.00pm local time) at Avchala Rugby Stadium in Tbilisi, and will be streamed on the Georgian Rugby Facebook page.
Head Coach Mark Mapletoft said: “Our first match against Georgia was tough; they were physical in their tackles, and some of their tries showed they have as much strike power out wide as they do through the forwards.
“Equally though, I was really pleased with the composure our players showed to stay in the contest and close out the match. Our bench had a real impact.
“The players learned a lot from Saturday’s match, which is why we’re on this tour. Our attention now turns to game two in what will be our final hit-out ahead of the World Rugby U20 Championship and we know we’ll have to put together a more complete performance in two days’ time.”
England Under-20s team to face Georgia
15 Joe Jenkins (Bristol Bears)
14 Jacob Cusick (Leicester Tigers)
13 Rekeiti Ma’asi-White (Sale Sharks)
12 Joseph Woodward (Leicester Tigers)
11 Alex Wills (Sale Sharks)
10 Connor Slevin (Harlequins)
9 Charlie Bracken (Saracens)
1 Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks)
2 Finn Theobald-Thomas (Gloucester)
3 Afolabi Fasogbon (London Irish)
4 Harvey Cuckson (Bath Rugby)
5 Lewis Chessum (Leicester Tigers)
6 Finn Carnduff (Leicester Tigers)
7 Greg Fisilau (Exeter Chiefs)
8 Chandler Cunningham-South (London Irish)
Replacements:
16 Nathan Jibulu (Harlequins)
17 Ethan Clarke (Harlequins)
18 James Halliwell (Bristol Bears)
19 Zach Carr (Harlequins)
20 Nathan Michelow (Saracens)
21 Nye Thomas (Sale Sharks)
22 Benjamin Waghorn (Harlequins
23 Toby Thame (Northampton Saints)
24 Louie Johnson (Newcastle Falcons)
