England Students in action

On the back of their 31-28 defeat against Portugal in Lisbon last month, head coach Steve Colwell feels that the squad is moving in the right direction.

He said: "We are looking to move forward from our defeat against Portugal – we are very proud of the way the team played and it gives us confidence moving into the fixture against Wales.  We welcome back Louis Messer from injury but have lost James Hallam (Durham) and Brad Field (Hartpury) from the squad. 

“Brad picked up a nasty injury in Lisbon but may make it back in time for the fixture in Italy in March. Unfortunately James Hallam is likely to miss the rest of the season.  It is a shame for both of the guys involved - they both performed really well and we are sorry to lose them."

The players replacing them are Andrew McCulla (Durham) and Tom Meatyard (Bath), while Liam Wilkinson comes in to replace Matt Chambers.

Forwards

Richard Barrington (Prop) (UWE Hartpury)
Josh Beaumont (Lock) (Durham)
Jamie Collins (Lock) (Bath)
Phil Hoy (Lock) ) (UWE Hartpury)
Graeme Lawler (Back row) ) (UWE Hartpury)
Anthony Maka (No. 8) (Bishop Burton)
Tom Meatyard (Prop) (Bath)
Tom Sargeant (Flanker) (Exeter)
Will Briggs (Prop) (Cambridge)
Mungo Strachan (Hooker) (Newcastle)
Richard Townsend (Hooker) ) (UWE Hartpury)
Liam Wilkinson (Back row) (UWE)

Backs

Daniel Bibby (Full back) (UWIC)
Ryan Edwards (Wing) (UWE)
Don Blake (Scrum half) (Cambridge
Andrew McCulla (Scrum half) (Durham)
Louis Messer (Centre) (UWIC)
Sam Miller (Wing) (Bath)
Tom O’Toole (Full back) (Cambridge)
Tom Shiel (Centre) (Durham)
Zak Vinnicombe (Fly half) (Bath)
Mike Ward (Fly half) (Durham)