Townsend in England U-20s squad

Exeter Chiefs youngster Stuart Townsend has been named in the England Under-20s starting XV to take on Wales in Saturday night’s game at Parc Eirias in Colwyn Bay (kick-off 7.30pm, live on S4C).

Defending world champions England have named five players from last season’s successful Junior World Championship campaign in New Zealand, as lock Charlie Ewels captains the side for the first time.

There is, however, no place in the match-day 23 for Townsend's club-mates, Jack Innard and Sam Skinner, both of whom have been training with the Under-20s.

Head Coach Jon Callard said: “Wales are a fabulous nation who love their rugby and we’re excited about taking them on. We have trained well this week and have a healthy blend of experienced and new players in this squad.

"Wales are a passionate bunch and we got a good result against them last season, so they’ll be keen to come out of the blocks firing. They’ll be hurting from that result and wanting to prove a point, but we’ll be focusing on ourselves and looking to perform as well as we can."

England Under 20 starting XV to play Wales

15 Piers O’Conor (Wasps)
14 George Perkins (Saracens)
13 Joe Marchant (Harlequins)
12 Max Clark (Bath Rugby)
11 Howard Packman (Northampton Saints)*
10 Rory Jennings (Bath Rugby)
9 Stuart Townsend (Exeter Chiefs)

1 Ellis Genge (Bristol Rugby)
2 Jack Walker (Yorkshire Carnegie)*
3 Paul Hill (Yorkshire Carnegie)*
4 Kieran Treadwell (Harlequins)
5 Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby, captain)*
6 Charlie Beckett (Leicester Tigers)
7 Will Owen (Leicester Tigers)
8 James Chisholm (Harlequins)*

Replacements
16 Jake Farnworth (Leicester Tigers)
17 Seb Adeniran-Olule (Harlequins)
18 Ciaran Parker (Sale Sharks)
19 Joe Batley (Gloucester Rugby)
20 Josh Bainbridge (Yorkshire Carnegie)
21 James Mitchell (Sale Sharks)
22 Tom Morton (Sale Sharks)
23 Tom Fowlie (London Irish)