Three Exiles named in England under-20s squad to face France

Lucas Brooke, Chandler Cunningham-South and Mikey Summerfield have been included in the England under-20s team to face France under-20s in round two of the Six Nations Under-20 Summer Series in Italy.    

Head Coach Alan Dickens named his side to face their Pool A opponents ahead of Wednesday’s (29^th June) fixture at the Payanini Centre, Verona, at 4pm BST.   

England lost their opening fixture when taking on South Africa under-20s despite tries from John Stewart, Emeka Ilione and Conor Oresanya to conclude 30-22.

Dickens’ side currently sit third in Pool A with no points, with France convincingly beating Ireland under-20s 42-21 to top the group.

Among four changes to the starting XV, Cunningham-South retains his place as the starting blindside flanker for Dickens after an impressive 80 minutes against South Africa last Friday.

Cunningham-South forced one turnover, made nine tackles (third highest on the England team), broke two tackles and had the second highest metres made in the England team with 71.

Brooke and Summerfield, each with five caps to their name, have also preserved their space amongst Dickens’ replacements after second half cameos against the Junior Boks.

The aforementioned forward finishers possessed a 100% tackling rate from four attempts each and will look to put up similar numbers against their Gallic opponents in the second round of fixtures.

England men’s U20 head coach, Alan Dickens, speaking ahead of the second round said: “Taking the positives from our game against South Africa has been important as we prepare for tomorrow’s game.

“The three tries from Stewart, Ilione and Oresanya were pleasing and to perform against France, who had a strong start against Ireland in the first round, we need to keep focus on our set piece and maintain our discipline.

“The players have been training hard and are looking forward to facing France in round two.”

You can catch our Exiles in action tomorrow and every game of the Under 20 Summer Series via the Six Nations Rugby U20 YouTube channel.

 

England U20 team

15 George Hendy, Northampton Saints, Caps 4

14 Iwan Stephens, Newcastle Falcons, Caps 2

13 Ethan Grayson, Northampton Saints, Caps 6

12 Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, Wasps, Caps 2 

11 Conor Oresanya, Harlequins, Caps 1

10 Fin Smith, Worcester Warriors, Caps 6

9 Charlie Bracken, Saracens, Caps 1

1 Tumy Onasanya, Sale Sharks, Caps 1

2 Ollie Fletcher, Newcastle Falcons, Caps 1

3 Jevaughn Warren, Saracens, Caps 1

4 Ewan Richards, Bath Rugby, Caps 8 

5 Lewis Chessum, Leicester Tigers, Caps 4 

6 Chandler Cunningham-South, London Irish, Caps 4  

7 Emeka Ilione, Leicester Tigers, Caps 7, Captain

8 Toby Knight, Saracens, Caps 6 

 

Replacements

16 John Stewart, Bath Rugby, Caps 6

16 Andrew Turner, Bristol Bears, Caps 1

18 Mikey Summerfield, London Irish, Caps 5   

19 Charlie Rice, Bristol Bears, Caps 3

20 Tom Lockett, Northampton Saints, Caps 5

21 Lucas Brooke, London Irish, Caps 5

22 Ethan Staddon, Bath Rugby, Caps 1

23 Tom Carr-Smith, Bath Rugby, Caps 4

24 Jed Walsh, Leicester Tigers, Caps 1

25 Tom Litchfield, Northampton Saints, Caps 6

26 Sam Harris, Bath Rugby, Caps 0

 

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  

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

 

Play offs

Tuesday 12 July, KO TBC, Stadio Monigo, Treviso