Four Exiles make England under-20 squad against Italy

Four Senior Academy Exiles have retained their place in Alan Dickens’ matchday 23 as the England under-20s continue their Under-20 Six Nations campaign against Italy.

The Head Coach has named an unchanged starting XV for the second round encounter this Friday at Kingsholm Stadium (7pm kick-off), having beaten Scotland 41-36 to open the tournament.

That means that Chandler Cunningham-South and Monty Bradbury continue their starting berths at number eight and stand-off respectively, with Calum Scott (hooker) and Afolabi Fasogbon (prop) also named as replacements.

Against Scotland, Bradbury made 10 tackles (joint-highest among English backs) and added one try assist in his first competitive under-20s appearance, whilst Cunningham-South scored a first-half try, executed a team-high 13 tackles and made 70 metres in 11 carries (highest among English forwards).

Scott and Fasogbon too earned their under-20s debuts, the hooker making 15 metres from two carries, a tackle and an offload in two passes, whilst Irish’s prop forward managed nine metres from his one carry, with an offload and two tackles.

England under-20s Head Coach Alan Dickens commented: “We can take many positives away from our match against Scotland, particularly from the first 25 minutes and in the final 10 when the team played with speed and intensity.

“While we lost the momentum early in the second half, I was really pleased with how the players wrestled back control to close out the match.

“The players are back in camp and have had a good few days of preparation.

“We’re now looking forward to our match against Italy at Kingsholm Stadium and will take a settled side into the fixture.

“All teams in this year’s Six Nations are quality sides.

“We saw Italy push France until the final whistle last week, so a full 80-minute performance will be needed against them on Friday.”

The match will be broadcast on BBC iPlayer.

England men's under-20 team v Italy

1 Archie McArthur (Gloucester)

2 Finn Theobald-Thomas (Gloucester)

3 Tim Hoyt (Leicester Tigers)

4 Danny Eite (Gloucester)

5 Lewis Chessum (Leicester Tigers)

6 Finn Carnduff (Leicester Tigers)

7 Greg Fisilau (Exeter Chiefs)

8 Chandler Cunningham-South (London Irish)

9 Charlie Bracken (Saracens)

10 Monty Bradbury (London Irish)

11 Josh Hathaway (Gloucester)

12 Joseph Woodward (Leicester Tigers)

13 Rekeiti Ma'asi-White (Sale Sharks)

14 Tobias Elliott (Saracens)

15 Sam Harris (Bath Rugby)

Replacements

16 Calum Scott (London Irish)

17 Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks)

18 Afolabi Fasogbon (London Irish)

19 Robert Carmichael (Leicester Tigers)

20 Tristan Woodman (Sale Sharks)

21 Nye Thomas (Sale Sharks)

22 Louie Johnson (Newcastle Falcons)

23 Benjamin Waghorn (Harlequins)

Under-20 Six Nations fixtures

Friday 10 February – England v Italy – KO 19:00 GMT – Kingsholm Stadium, Gloucester

Friday 24 February – Wales v England – KO 19:15 GMT

Friday 10 March – England v France – KO 20:00 GMT – The Recreation Ground, Bath

Sunday 19 March – Ireland v England – KO 17:00 GMT