England Saxons start 2008 at Welford Road

England Saxons squad announcement



Newcastle Falcons coach Steve Bates will head up this year’s England Saxons coaching team for the 2008 shadow Six Nations competition.



He will be joined by the RFU’s National Academy coaches Graham Rowntree and Simon Hardy.



The following 32 players have been selected in the 32 man England Saxons training squad for the tournament:



England Saxons 2008 Six Nations training squad



Forwards



Alex Brown (Gloucester Rugby)*

Richard Blaze (Leicester Tigers)

Alex Clarke (Bristol Rugby)

Jordan Crane (Leicester Tigers)

Phil Dowson (Newcastle Falcons)

Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints)

Jason Hobson (Bristol Rugby)

Nick Kennedy (London Irish)

Michael Lipman (Bath Rugby)*

Magnus Lund (Sale Sharks)*

Luke Narraway (Gloucester Rugby)

David Paice (London Irish)

Tom Palmer (London Wasps)*

Andy Titterrell (Gloucester Rugby)*

Dave Wilson (Newcastle Falcons)

Nick Wood (Gloucester Rugby)

Ben Woods (Newcastle Falcons)



Backs



Nick Abendanon (Bath Rugby)*

Anthony Allen (Gloucester Rugby)*

Delon Armitage (London Irish)

Tom Arscott (Bristol Rugby)

Chris Ashton (Northampton Saints)

Mike Brown (Harlequins)*

Danny Care (Harlequins)

Lee Dickson (Newcastle Falcons)

Shane Geraghty (London Irish)*

Danny Hipkiss (Leicester Tigers)*

Paul Hodgson (London Irish)

Ryan Lamb (Gloucester Rugby)

James Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester Rugby)*

Ollie Smith (Leicester Tigers)*

Tom Varndell (Leicester Tigers)*



* Indicates capped players



The England Saxons will play two fixtures against Ireland A at Welford Road on Friday 1 February (kick off 7.45pm) and Italy A in Sicily on Saturday 9 February (kick off 6.15pm local time).



Full player profiles and headshots are available from www.rfu.com/profiles. For further information on fixtures and previous results please go to www.rfu.com/saxons.



England Saxons coaching team profiles



STEVE BATES

Position: England Saxons Head Coach

Born: March 4, 1963, Merthyr Tydfil. Age: 44



As a scrum half Steve Bates enjoyed a long and successful career alongside Rob Andrew at London Wasps. He won one England cap against Romania in Bucharest in the summer of 1989 and toured South Africa with England in 1994.

He moved north to take up a coaching role with Newcastle Falcons in 1995 and was the club’s head coach until 2003, leaving to take over as director of rugby at Borders, who he led into the Heineken Cup.



Bates went on to coach Scotland A at the Barclays Churchill Cup in 2006, where they beat England Saxons 13-7 in Toronto, before returning to Kingston Park as Coaching and Technical Director in the summer of 2007.

As a teacher at Lord Wandsworth College in Hampshire, he was instrumental in the development of the young Jonny Wilkinson, who joined the Falcons on his recommendation in 1997.



GRAHAM ROWNTREE

Position: RFU National Academy Coach and England Saxons Coach

Born: 18.4.71, Stockton-on-Tees



Since joining the RFU in June 2007 as a National Academy Coach, Graham Rowntree has lent his expertise to many of England’s up and coming forwards and was also one of the coaching team for the 2007 Rugby World Cup.



The former Leicester Tigers prop made his England debut as a replacement against Scotland in the 1995 Five Nations tournament and won his 54th cap against Australia in June 2006. He has played in two Rugby World Cups (1995 and 1999) and in two Lions’ Tests in 2005, eight years after first touring with them to South Africa.

Educated at Hastings High School and John Cleveland College in Hinckley, Graham also played for Nuneaton’s age group teams and England Schools. He joined Leicester in 1998 and made his first team debut in October 1990, becoming the youngest member of Tigers’ domestic cup-winning side of 1993.

In a 16-year senior career he went on to make 398 first team appearances for the club, placing him sixth on Tigers’ all-time list. He also played for the Midlands, England A and the Barbarians. After retiring from playing he joined the Leicester Tigers coaching staff last season as assistant forwards coach.

SIMON HARDY

Position: RFU National Academy Coach and England Saxons Assistant Coach

Born: 16.10.56, Oxford



Simon Hardy is a World Cup winner with England, having been the specialist lineout coach for 81 Tests, including the Six Nations winning sides of 2000 and 2001 and a memorable 2003 when they won a Grand Slam, beat New Zealand and Australia Down Under and then returned to Sydney to lift the Webb Ellis Cup. In his specialist capacity, he also worked with the England team in advance of last year’s 2007 Rugby World Cup.

A hooker for Saracens, Wasps and England U23 before his playing career was ended by injury, the Loughborough University graduate joined the Rugby Football Union as Youth Development Officer for Hertfordshire in 1990. He became South West Technical Administrator two years later and was National Coach Development Manager between 1994 and 1999. He joined England part-time before the 1999 World Cup, going full-time in 2000.



As one of the RFU’s National Academy Coaches, he works as a coach and mentor with England’s up and coming players.



This will be his second stint with England Saxons, having been part of the successful 2006 Churchill Cup coaching team.



Ends

I think Rowntree joined Tigers in 1988, not 1998!

SK 88 - this information comes from the RFU not I, so I am assuming (daft me) that is correct

Saxons hope for passionate support

England Saxons will be hoping for a large crowd when they take on Ireland A at Welford Road on Friday, February 1st.

England Saxons line up against Ireland A at Welford Road on Friday, February 1, with the players involved hoping to experience the kind of atmosphere traditionally associated with Leicester Tigers.

[www.tigers.co.uk]

It's a shame Danny Care's off with the 7s team. He's looked pretty good for Quins this season when he's had the chance.

If the ripsnorting C Cup final against the Maori was anything to go by Im definately going along to watch this lot.

That was one of the hardest and most enjoyable games I have ever watched.

Conor O'Shea is supposed to be very good at his job.

Why was Care picked if he was going to play for the 7's anyway

Was the Maori side the best outside the NZ team...or was it more of a young development side? Great game though...and result

Wish I had Sky so I could watch the Ireland game

The Maori side was strong but the Maori are not New Zealand A.


Technically, the NZ Maori are NZ's 3rd team as the Junior All Blacks are classed as the NZ A side and they were playing in the Pacific Rim tournament at the same time.


It was still a strong side that the Maori fieldd though & they were clear favourites to beat England going in to the fixture.