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England U20s skipper Carnduff earns first Premiership start in derby
By Josh Raisey
England U20s captain Finn Carnduff will make his first start for Leicester Tigers in the Gallagher Premiership on Saturday when they face Northampton Saints in the East Midlands Derby.
The 20-year-old will start at blindside flanker at Franklin's Gardens in a side that has plenty of international stars returning after missing out on the Investec Champions Cup round of 16 clash with Leinster in Dublin.
Carnduff started on the bench in 36-22 loss at the Aviva Stadium, coming on for the final ten minutes, but has been promoted to the starting XV by head coach Dan McKellar to take on the league leaders.
The flanker has started for Leicester in the Premiership Rugby Cup, but this will be his first start in the league a month after starting every match in England's victorious U20s Six Nations campaign.
The match will also see England tighthead Dan Cole overtake Graham Rowntree in playing the most Premiership matches for the Tigers in what will be his 235th league outing.
McKellar said: “Firstly, it’s important to recognise Dan Cole’s achievement. This club has a long, rich history so for him to set a record like that, it’s truly remarkable.”
“Saints are a good side in good form and it’s the derby so there’s no doubt it’ll be another great challenge for us.”
Leicester Tigers XV
15 Jamie Shillcock [24]
14 Freddie Steward [84]
13 Dan Kelly [77]
12 Solomone Kata [16]
11 Ollie Hassell-Collins [18]
10 Handré Pollard [29]
9 Jack van Poortvliet [69]
1 James Cronin [31]
2 Julián Montoya [56]
3 Dan Cole [319]
4 Harry Wells [195]
5 Ollie Chessum [54]
6 Finn Carnduff [11]
7 Tommy Reffell [110]
8 Jasper Wiese [75]
Replacements
16 Charlie Clare [91]
17 Francois van Wyk [50]
18 Will Hurd [39]
19 Kyle Hatherell [19]
20 Olly Cracknell [39]
21 Ben Youngs [313]
22 Phil Cokanasiga [16]
23 Mike Brown [24]
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Latest Comments
Disagree.
The challenge for the All Blacks now that they have 7 of 8 starting forwards locked in and all but one bench forward (only one loose forward and bench loosie to settle on) is to sort out the starting backline as only 9 Roigard, 12 J. Barrett, 11 Clarke and 15 Jordan had good to outstanding seasons in 2024. All the other backs were inconsistent or poor and question marks going into 2025.
Go to commentshe should not be playing 12. He should be playing 10 and team managers should stop playing players out of position to accommodate libbok.
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