Three Exiles in England Under-20 squad to face South Africa

Chandler Cunningham-South, Mikey Summerfield and Lucas Brooke have all been included in England Under-20s Head Coach Alan Dickens' 26-man match day squad to face South Africa in the opening round of the Six Nations Under-20 Summer Series in Italy.  

Recent recruit to the Exiles' Senior Academy Cunningham-South makes his second starting berth at blindside flanker for England, just as he did in his under-20s debut against Wales in February, with the fixture taking place at the Payanini Centre, Verona, at 4pm BST this Friday (24th June).

Looking to make an impact off the bench is prop Mikey Summerfield and back-row forward Lucas Brooke, both of whom have experience at under-20s level with Summerfield playing in all five of England's 2022 Under 20 Six Nations games.

Brooke completed his second Under 20 Six Nations venture at the turn of the year and also made his first team debut for Irish in March, scoring against Leicester Tigers in Round 5 of the Premiership Rugby Cup.

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

England men’s U20 head coach, Alan Dickens, speaking about the first game of the series said: “The team is excited to play against South Africa although they are a little bit of an unknown as they haven’t played any games this year at an international level.

“The opportunities for this group to learn and develop over this series are immense and I’m as excited about the players having meaningful game time as I am the final result.”

 

Congratulations boys, go well!

 

England U20 team 

15 George Hendy, Northampton Saints, Caps 3

14 Tom Litchfield, Northampton Saints, Caps 5

13 Ethan Grayson, Northampton Saints, Caps 5 

12 Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, Wasps, Caps 1 

11 Iwan Stephens, Newcastle Falcons, Caps 1

10 Fin Smith, Worcester Warriors, Caps 5 

9 Tom Carr-Smith, Bath Rugby, Caps 3 

1 Tumy Onasanya, Sale Sharks, Caps 0 

2 John Stewart, Bath Rugby, Caps 5 

3 Jevaughn Warren, Saracens, Caps 0

4 Ewan Richards, Bath Rugby, Caps 7

5 Lewis Chessum, Leicester Tigers, Caps 3 

6 Chandler Cunningham-South, London Irish, Caps 3 

7 Emeka Ilione, Leicester Tigers, Caps 6, Captain

8 Greg Fisilau, Wasps, Caps 2 

 

Replacements

16 Finn Theobald-Thomas, Worcester, Caps 2 

17 Andrew Turner, Bristol Bears, Caps 0

18 Mikey Summerfield, London Irish, Caps 5 

19 Tom Lockett, Northampton Saints, Caps 4 

20 Lucas Brooke, London Irish, Caps 4 

21 Ethan Staddon, Bath Rugby, Caps 0 

22 Toby Knight, Saracens, Caps 5 

23 Charlie Bracken, Saracens, Caps 0

24 Jed Walsh, Leicester Tigers, Caps 0

25 Conor Oresanya, Harlequins, Caps 0

26 Tobi Wilson, Worcester Warriors, Caps 0

 

England’s Pool A games

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

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

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

 

Play offs

Tuesday 12 July, KO TBC, Stadio Monigo, Treviso