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27 uncapped players in England U20s squad of 32, new coach added
By Liam Heagney
Mark Mapletoft has named an England U20s squad of 32 containing five capped players and a new attack coach for this weekend's training camp ahead of their double title defence which begins on January 30 versus Ireland in Cork.
The defending age-grade Six Nations and World Rugby Championship holders have retained the still-underage Josh Bellamy, Jack Bracken, Ben Coen, Kane James and George Timmins while also appointing Dave Walder, the ex-Newcastle boss, as an assistant.
A statement read: “A 32-player England U20 men’s squad has been named for this weekend’s camp hosted at Warwick University. Head coach Mark Mapletoft and assistant coach Andy Titterrell’s team convene in the Midlands in preparation for the upcoming friendly against Cambridge RUFC and the 2025 U20 Six Nations campaign.
“Josh Bellamy (Harlequins), Jack Bracken (Saracens), Exeter Chiefs’ Ben Coen and Kane James and George Timmins (Bath Rugby) are the five previously-capped U20 players involved. With a largely uncapped cohort, 22 of the 32 named players have previously achieved U18 men’s caps under Jonathan Pendlebury and Will Parkin.
“The Rugby Football Union are pleased to confirm that Dave Walder will join the England U20 men’s coaching staff as attack coach ahead of the Six Nations campaign. The former England senior men’s international and Newcastle Falcons head coach was most recently involved with Bristol Bears as a senior attack and skills coach.”
Mapletoft said: “This weekend marks our first non-regional meeting of the U20 Men’s season and the energy amongst the boys has been very pleasing. With a healthy portion of our EPS in first-team action for their respective clubs, this camp offers a platform for even more players to express their talents in an U20 jersey for the first time.
“As well as implementing our core pathway principles, we are also tasking the squad with demonstrating ownership both on and off the field and how that relates into our brotherhood in the U20 men’s team.
“Alongside these new players, we are also privileged to welcome in Dave Walder to coordinate our attack in the upcoming Six Nations and James Mealing to lead on our strength and conditioning programme for the team. Both are leaders in their respective fields and are very welcome additions to our brotherhood.”
England U20 men’s squad (Warwick University camp)
Forwards (17):
Aiden Ainsworth-Cave (Northampton Saints, uncapped)
Tom Burrow (Sale Sharks, uncapped)
Jos Gilmore (Sale Sharks, uncapped)
Louie Gulley (Exeter Chiefs, uncapped)
Reggie Hammick (Saracens, uncapped)
Kane James (Exeter Chiefs, 9 caps)
Seb Kelly (Sale Sharks, uncapped)
Alfie Longstaff (Sale Sharks, uncapped)
Tubuna Maka (Leicester Tigers, uncapped)
Ralph McEachran (Sale Sharks, uncapped)
Tye Raymont (Sale Sharks, uncapped)
Oli Scola (Northampton Saints, uncapped)
Jimmy Staples (Harlequins, uncapped)
Ollie Streeter (Harlequins, uncapped)
Ethan Surrey (Bristol Bears, uncapped)
George Timmins (Bath Rugby, 2 caps)
Sam Williams (Leicester Tigers, uncapped)
Backs (15):
Nic Allison (Exeter Chiefs, uncapped)
Josh Bellamy (Harlequins, 10 caps)
Jack Bracken (Saracens, 5 caps)
Ben Coen (Exeter Chiefs, 5 caps)
Ollie Davies (Sale Sharks, uncapped)
Charlie Griffin (Bath Rugby, uncapped)
Dom Hanson (Sale Sharks, uncapped)
Jack Kinder (Leicester Tigers, uncapped)
Nick Lilley (Exeter Chiefs, uncapped)
Frank McMillan (Harlequins, uncapped)
George Pearson (Leicester Tigers, uncapped)
Campbell Ridl (Exeter Chiefs, uncapped)
Jez Tuima (Provence, uncapped)
Jonny Weimann (Northampton Saints, uncapped)
Toby Wilson (Sale Sharks, uncapped)
• Click here for tickets to see the reigning U20 Six Nations and world champions in action in 2025
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Latest Comments
You’ve got to look forward to next weekend more than anything too.
They really use this sorta system? Much smaller pool of bonus points available, that would mean they have far less impact. Interestingly you must be withen winning range/chance in France’s Top 14 league, rather that just draw territory, so 6 points instead of 7. Fairly arbitrary and pointless (something the NRL would do to try and look cool), but kinda cool.
I said it Nick’s and other articles, I’m not sure about the fixed nature of matchups in these opening rounds. For instance, I would be interested in seeing an improved ranking/prediction/reflection ladder to what we had last year, were some author here game so rejigged list of teams purely based of ‘who had played who’ so far in the competition. It was designed to analyze the ladder and better predict what the real order would be after the full round robin had completed. It needed some improvement, like factoring in historical data as well, as it was a bit skiwif, but it is the sort of thing that would give a better depiction of what sort of contests weve had so far, because just using my intuition, the matchups have been very ‘level appropriate’ so far, and were jet to get the other end of the spectrum, season ranked bottom sides v top sides etc.
Go to commentsAs a former rugby player, I spent 20 years as a specialist tackling coach in the AFL, SANFL, and Southern Football League. During this time, I was fortunate to be part of teams winning seven premierships. I believe there is a valuable place for cross-code coaching in these sports. I made many lifelong friends and enjoyed sharing knowledge and skills from different sporting backgrounds, which is encouraged at many elite levels.
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