England name Under 18 squad for Australia game 13/12/09


By RFU Press Release
December 3 2009

England have named a 23-man squad for next weekend's Under 18 international against Australian Schools. Head coach John Fletcher's side take on the tourists at Sale FC's Heywood Road ground on Sunday, December 13 (2pm).

 England U18s v Australia

 England U18 fly half George Ford

England U18 fly half George Ford

England are unbeaten at this level in 17 games - 12 of them internationals - since an 11-3 defeat in their last meeting with Australia in the summer of 2007.

But this is a new squad with only a handful of survivors from the side that finished last season by beating South Africa 45-13 in Kimberley.

One of those returning is George Ford, the fly half who made his first team debut for Leicester Tigers at the age of 16 in the LV= Cup last month, becoming the youngest player ever to appear in a professional club game.

The others are back row forward Billy Vunipola, who joined London Wasps from Bristol this summer and started against South Africa as a 16-year-old, and lock Dominic Barrow (Leeds Carnegie), who appeared against Boland on the summer tour.

England U18 squad

Forwards
Nick Auterac (Oaklands College & Saracens)
Dominic Barrow (Prince Henry's GS & Leeds Carnegie)
Ant Brennan (Twyford CofE & London Wasps)
Koree Britton (Ivybridge College & Exeter Chiefs)
Luke Cowan-Dickie (Truro College & Exeter Chiefs)
Matt Kvesic (Worcester 6th Form College & Worcester Warriors)
George Merrick (Whitgift & Harlequins)
Nathan Morris (Sedbergh & Newcastle Falcons)
Sam Northcote-Green (Dulwich College & London Wasps)
Kyle Sinckler (Epsom College & Harlequins)
Sam Twomey (Dulwich College & Harlequins)
Billy Vunipola (Harrow & London Wasps)
Chris Walker (Prince Henry's GS & Leeds Carnegie)

Backs
Elliott Daly (Whitgift & London Wasps)
Jamie Elliott (Bedford & Northampton Saints)
George Ford (Rishworth & Leicester Tigers)
Joel Hodgson (RGS Newcastle & Newcastle Falcons)
Mark Jennings (Lymm HS & Sale Sharks)
Ryan Mills (Hartpury College & Gloucester)
Ben Ransom (Tonbridge & Saracens)
Dan Robson (Hartpury College & Gloucester)
Charlie Walker (Oakham & Leicester Tigers)
Marland Yarde (Whitgift & London Irish)

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England name Under 18 squad for Australia game 13/12/09
Discussion started by Unofficial England Rugby Union , 03/12/2009 09:14
Unofficial England Rugby Union
03/12/2009 09:14
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RuggaZBoy
06/12/2009 21:40
It's a shame, that the win against South African Schools was taken seriously.. The SA Schools players had just finished a regional tournament and only had a week to prepare for the England game, in that week they only had one warm up game - against Italy whom they beat 86-3. We should also keep in mind that we played the SA Schools team, not the SA high performance U18 squad. Us on the other hand, had a long youth tournament, as well as many other friendlies. So the win against South Africa shouldn't count and we must use the game against Australian Schools as a proper chance to see how good we are (Australian Schools only beat Wales U18, 10-6)

The SA schools results

7 August 2009
SA Schools U18 13 - 45 England Schools U18

4 August 2009
SA Schools U18 86 - 3 Italy Schools U18

The SA U18 high performance results

29 August 2009
SA U18 High Performance 39 - 6 France U18

26 August 2009
SA U18 High Performance 93 - 10 Namibia U18

22 August 2009
SA U18 High Performance 39 - 3 France U18

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Slater582
07/12/2009 23:30
Interesting point RuggaZBoy.

I now wish England U18 had had a chance to play SA U18 High Performance in the summer. Will just have to see them play each other @ U20 level I suppose.

England didn't play France U18 so it's tough to compare. France did play Wales at Soissons, and Wales won 27-15.
England beat Wales 36-23 at Ebbw Vale.

Not sure I agree when you say 'and we must use the game against Australian Schools as a proper chance to see how good we are'

The team against SA was

1) Mako Vunipola | 2) Harry Allen | 3) Ryan Bower | 4) Ben Glynn | 5) Charlie Matthews | 6) Billy Vunipola | 7) Matt Everard | 8) Alex Gray | 9) Sam Stuart | 10) George Ford | 11) Marcus Watson | 12) Owen Farrell | 13) Andy Short | 14) Christian Wade | 15) Jack Wallace

Only two remain now. So it's a different team.

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RuggaZBoy
08/12/2009 08:27
I said we should use the game against australia as a good test because australia is the best team we will play [i dont think we'll play New Zealand] . And Australia have had ages to prepare for the game, including 2 games against ireland and a game against Wales

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ligger
08/12/2009 22:10
Good luck to the boys, especially Elliot, George and Marland.

JL's Mum!

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