INTERNATIONAL WATCH: Three Exiles in England U20s squad

The future is certainly bright for London Irish, with three Exiles being called up to the England Under-20 squad for this Friday’s game against the Junior Springboks at Worcester’s Sixways Stadium (kick-off 7.30pm).

Tom Parton and Ben Loader are named in the starting XV, while Rory Brand is amongst the replacements as preparations intensify for the World Rugby U20 Championship in France, which gets underway on 30 May. 

Parton starts at full-back, while Loader who was today named in Eddie Jones’ England training squad, gets the nod on the wing.  

England were beaten finalists in last year’s World Rugby U20 Championship in Georgia and also more recently finished runners-up in the 2018 U20 Six Nations Championship.

2016 World Rugby U20 Championship winners England will face Argentina in Narbonne (30 May, 5.30pm BST) as well as Italy (3 June, 3.30pm BST) in Perpignan and Scotland (7 June, 8pm BST) in Pool B at Beziers' Stade de la Méditerranée.

Narbonne and Perpignan will host the semi-finals and ranking play-offs on 12 June, with Béziers hosting all finals day matches on 17 June across two pitches. 

England Under-20s have faced the Junior Springboks in successive semi-finals in the tournament, defeating them 39-17 in 2016 and 24-22 in 2017.

Steve Bates said: “Playing South Africa is really going to focus everyone’s attention before the World Rugby U20 Championship and will provide us with valuable playing time before the tournament begins.

“This fixture also gives us an opportunity to finalise our squad for the tournament in France as well as get the players together to start preparing for the challenges ahead.

“During the Six Nations we played well in patches and now the aim for us is to turn up the heat and play at a consistently high level.”

England U20s

15. Tom Parton

14. Tom Seabrook

13. Ollie Lawrence

12. Fraser Dingwall

11. Ben Loader

10. James Grayson

9. Ben White (c)

1. Alex Seville

2. Gabriel Oghre

3. Joe Heyes

4. Joel Kpoku

5. James Scott

6. Ted Hill

7. Aaron Hinkley

8. Tom Willis

Replacements

16. Henry Walker

17. Toby Trinder

18. Ehren Painter

19. Sam Lewis

20. Josh Basham

21. Rory Brand

22. Sam Morley

23. Luke James

Travelling reserves: Beck Cutting, Ciaran Knight, Joe Snow, Cadan Murley