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England U20s include nine uncapped players for Georgia tour

England's Lewis Chessum (Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

New England age-grade boss Mark Mapletoft has named a 29-strong U20s squad for the two-match tour to Georgia ahead of next month’s World Cup in South Africa. The head coach, who earned his stripes during his decade working at Harlequins in a variety of roles, took over this week from Alan Dickens having worked as an assistant to the national team U18s since 2020.

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A statement read: “England men’s U20 head coach Mark Mapletoft has named his travelling squad ahead of a two-match tour of Georgia against its U20 side, which is part of England’s preparations for the World Rugby U20 Championship in South Africa next month.

“The 29-player squad will travel to Georgia for the matches on Saturday, May 27, and Thursday, June 1, providing a competitive opportunity for the side to continue to develop ahead of the global tournament.

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      “Leicester’s Lewis Chessum captains the squad, which includes nine uncapped England U20 players. However, all have been part of the England Rugby pathways programme which is a vital development tool for future international rugby players: of the 48 men’s players capped for England last year, 42 played England U20.

      “The World Rugby U20 Championship will be held for the first time in four years, running from June 24 to July 14, and featuring the top 12 U20 rugby nations. Played over five match days, England are in Pool B where they will face Australia, Ireland and Fiji.”

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      Mapletoft said: “Congratulations to all players selected for the tour of Georgia. These two matches will allow us to test ourselves on the road against a physical outfit with a tight turnaround, just like we will face at the World Rugby U20 Championship in South Africa.”

      England men’s U20 squad (*uncapped player)
      Forwards (16):

      Afolabi Fasogbon (London Irish)
      Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks)
      Chandler Cunningham-South (London Irish)
      Craig Wright (Northampton Saints)*
      Ethan Clarke (Harlequins)*
      Finn Carnduff (Leicester Tigers)
      Finn Theobald-Thomas (Gloucester)
      Greg Fisilau (Exeter Chiefs)
      Harry Browne (Harlequins)
      Harvey Cuckson (Bath Rugby)*
      James Halliwell (Bristol Bears)*
      Lewis Chessum (Leicester Tigers)
      Nathan Jibulu (Harlequins)
      Nathan Michelow (Saracens)*
      Tristan Woodman (Sale Sharks)
      Zach Carr (Harlequins)*

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      Backs (13):
      Alex Wills (Sale Sharks)*
      Benjamin Waghorn (Harlequins)
      Cassius Cleaves (Harlequins)
      Charlie Bracken (Saracens)
      Connor Slevin (Harlequins)*
      Jacob Cusick (Leicester Tigers)
      Joe Jenkins (Bristol Bears)
      Joseph Woodward (Leicester Tigers)
      Louie Johnson (Newcastle Falcons)
      Nye Thomas (Sale Sharks)
      Rekeiti Ma’asi-White (Sale Sharks)
      Sam Harris (Bath Rugby)
      Toby Thame (Northampton Saints)*

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      J
      JW 17 minutes ago
      Half-back depth is the flaw in 'Razor's' 4-4-4 Rugby World Cup plan

      Well there’s a couple of distinctions here that are important aren’t there?


      First though like I replied to Tk where does it say theres need to test vets, or proven reliable players? It is simply ‘test quality’.


      Now, I have created a list that I think is test quality, so all weve got to do is upskill the missing pieces right? No. Razor might not mean to have given every player half a dozen matchs but he will want to have identified and assured himself that each individual is indeed test quality. So yes, plays like Darry and Lord may still be included in a few squads and used so he’s happy to include them as say 5th and 6th ranked locks, but that doesn’t mean he needs to go to the same level to ensure for himself the 7th and 8th ranked locks.


      He might be happy basing performances off SR Finals, or organizing an AB XV match against a team like France or SA with similar locking depth (even organizing say Warner Dearns to be part of the Japan XV etc), and I’m sure they’re going to have a very large squad over in South Africa for two months.


      I don’t think he is quite in the same predicament as SA to have to rest top stars. And this is obviously just goal setting, they’re supposed to be hard. As you can see by the context around this series, arbitrary targets like everyone getting some minutes are made. That could also simply be how he ensures he has met the 4. So hookers would be ticked, as he’s already used 5 at test level. If you looked at the Baabaas SA game you’d see Beehre performing like an accomplished test player, that already makes 7 locks with more than 2 full seasons to go. You take the point BA was making about Marshalls previous remarks about Razor want players to be able to play 3/4/5 different positions, that would mean if Razor was really happy with Finau at lock last week he already has 8 test quality locks as well, etc, etc.


      TLDR sorry for the big reply, it’s just a goal, the teams not going to suddenly fail if he doesn’t reach it, I think theres many means and many players for him to be comfortable in getting 4 in each position. He’s obviously not going to be able to get 4 proven, hardened test players in each by then, no.

      132 Go to comments
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