Chiefs youngsters included in U20s side

By Mark Stevens
17/6/19

Four Exeter Chiefs youngsters have been named by England Under-20s head coach Steve Bates in his side to play Ireland today at the World Rugby U20 Championship fifth-place semi-final (KO, 7.30pm BST) in Rosario, Argentina.

Richard Capstick and Sam Maunder will both start the contest, while James Kenny and Rus Tuima have been named amongst the replacements. Fellow Chief Alfie Petch, who has featured previously in the competition, is ruled out through injury for England's final game of the tournament.

Bates has made two changes to the side that defeated Australia (56-33) in the final pool fixture.

Kai Owen is named at loosehead prop, while Alex Coles comes into the second row. There is also a positional switch also with Capstick moving from lock into the back row with England’s backline unchanged for the fixture. Centre Fraser Dingwall will again captain the side, while Ollie Hassell-Collins is named as a finisher, having been called into the squad as an injury replacement for Arron Reed (Sale Sharks).

Despite victories over Australia and Italy in their pool, England failed to progress into the top four of the competition, having lost their opening fixture to Ireland.

They will instead contest the fifth-place semi, with Wales and New Zealand the other semi-final fixture before finals day on Saturday, 22 June.

Back-row forward Josh Basham (ankle) is ruled out of the remainder of the tournament and has returned home, while prop Alfie Petch is not available for selection due to concussion.

Bates said: “We felt it was important to give the majority of the side that played against Australia another go as it was by far our best performance of the tournament. The challenge for our squad now is to back up that performance with one that is better. We cannot approach it with any degree of complacency or lack of acknowledgment that it took a lot of hard work, commitment and team work to perform at that standard against Australia. We’ve got to keep moving forward as a team and continue to develop. This will be the third time we’ve played Ireland this season and in both games discipline has let us down, so we’ve got to the learn the lessons from those two fixtures.”

England U20s v Ireland U20s

15. Tom de Glanville (Bath Rugby)
14. Ollie Sleightholme (Northampton Saints)
13. Fraser Dingwall (Northampton Saints, capt)
12. Cameron Redpath (Sale Sharks)
11. Josh Hodge (Newcastle Falcons)
10. Manu Vunipola (Saracens)
9. Sam Maunder (Exeter Chiefs)
1. Kai Owen (Worcester Warriors)
2. Will Capon (Bristol Bears)
3. Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers)
4. Joel Kpoku (Saracens)
5. Alex Coles (Northampton Saints)
6. Richard Capstick (Exeter Chiefs)
7. Aaron Hinkley (Gloucester Rugby)
8. Ted Hill (Worcester Warriors)

Replacements

16. Nic Dolly (Sale Sharks)
17. Olly Adkins (Gloucester Rugby)
18. James Kenny (Exeter Chiefs)
19. Tom Willis (Wasps Rugby)
20. Rusiate Tuima (Exeter Chiefs)
21. Ollie Fox (Yorkshire Carnegie)
22. Connor Doherty (Sale Sharks)
23. Tom Seabrook (Gloucester Rugby)
24. Luke James (Sale Sharks)
25. Ollie Hassell-Collins (London Irish)

England U20 fixtures and results

4 June: England U20s 26-42 Ireland U20s

8 June: England U20s 24-23 Italy U20s

12 June: England U20s 56-33 Australia U20s

17 June: England U20s v Ireland U20s, 7.30pm BST live on ITV 4

22 June: Finals day, live on ITV 4