Four Exiles in England under-20s side to face Ireland

England under-20 Head Coach Alan Dickens is set to award Exile Alexander Harmes with his first England under-20 appearance when facing Ireland in round three of the Six Nations Under-20 Summer Series in Italy.    

Taking place at the Payanini Centre, Verona, at 7pm BST on Tuesday 5 July, Harmes joins three other London Irish Academy players included in the squad, together with Lucas Brooke, Chandler Cunningham-South and Mikey Summerfield.

Harmes is one of only two changes to the side that beat France under-20s 29-20 last week, replacing Harlequins’ Conor Oresanya with in-form Cunningham-South also afforded a rest after impressing in back-to-back starts.

The 20-year-old winger has spent seven years in the London Irish Academy, already being capped at under-18 level for England whilst he made his debut for the Exiles this term against Leicester Tigers in the Premiership Rugby Cup.

Cunningham-South drops to the replacements having made the second-most metres of any England under-20s player in the opening two rounds of action, also making the third-most tackles (9) amongst his squad in their opener against South Africa under-20s.

Brooke and Summerfield have also impressed in cameos off the bench, with Summerfield maintaining a 100% tackle success rate across the two first weekends whilst the former averaged six metres per carry against France.

Being the only team across both pools who can finish from first to fourth, the permutations for England in the third round of Under 20 Six Nations Summer Series are as follows:

Should England and France win with a bonus point and South Africa return nothing from their match, all mentioned teams will be level on 10 points and points difference will determine placings with England having +1 as it stands to +12 and +17 of France and South Africa.

A try bonus point with a margin of victory greater than eight points or more for France would situate them as first, but England would have to exceed that with a 12-point swing greater than France's total in order to leapfrog them.

Tries scored would be factored in if England's victory is only 11 points greater, with the Red Roses ahead of France currently at 7-6, and should that be level, seedings will be determined by points scored in all three matches.

England can still finish at the foot of Pool A, but that would also require a try bonus win for Ireland with a margin of victory by 31 points or more.

Every game of the Under 20 Summer Series will be streamed via the Six Nations Rugby U20 YouTube channel.

England men’s under-20 head coach, Alan Dickens, speaking ahead of the final pool game said: “The players really gave it their all against France and to score four tries and secure a bonus point was well deserved.

“We know we will need to maintain focus on our discipline in the final pool game against Ireland who, as we experienced in the Six Nations Championship, are a strong side.”

 

England Under-20 team

15 George Hendy, Northampton Saints, Caps 5

14 Iwan Stephens, Newcastle Falcons, Caps 3

13 Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, Wasps, Caps 3 

12 Ethan Grayson, Northampton Saints, Caps 7 

11 Alex Harmes, London Irish, Caps 0

10 Fin Smith, Worcester Warriors, Caps 7

9 Charlie Bracken, Saracens, Caps 2

1 Tumy Onasanya, Sale Sharks, Caps 2 

2 Ollie Fletcher, Newcastle Falcons, Caps 3

3 Jevaughn Warren, Saracens, Caps 2

4 Ewan Richards, Bath Rugby, Caps 9 

5 Lewis Chessum, Leicester Tigers, Caps 5

6 Ethan Staddon, Bath Rugby, Caps 2

7 Emeka Ilione, Leicester Tigers, Caps 8, Captain

8 Toby Knight, Saracens, Caps 7 

 

Replacements

16 John Stewart, Bath Rugby, Caps 6

17 Archie McArthur, Wasps, Caps 2

18 Mikey Summerfield, London Irish, Caps 7   

19 Charlie Rice, Bristol Bears, Caps 4

20 Chandler Cunningham-South, London Irish, Caps 5 

21 Greg Fisilau, Wasps, Caps 3

22 Lucas Brooke, London Irish, Caps 6

23 Tom Carr-Smith, Bath Rugby, Caps 5

24 Jed Walsh, Leicester Tigers, Caps 2

25 Tom Litchfield, Northampton Saints, Caps 7

26 Sam Harris, Bath Rugby, Caps 1

 

 

England’s Pool A fixtures and results

 

Round 1 – England v South Africa, Friday 24 June, KO 4pm (BST), Payanini Centre, Verona - 22-30

Round 2 – France v England, Wednesday 29 June, KO 4pm (BST), Payanini Centre, Verona - 20-29

Round 3 – Ireland v England, Tuesday 5 July, KO 7pm (BST), Payanini Centre, Verona  

 

Play offs  

Tuesday 12 July, KO TBC, Stadio Monigo, Treviso