Will Warden, captain of England Students

Loughborough University captain and second row Will Warden, 23, will skipper the side, as one of five Loughborough players in the starting XV, with another on the bench.

Six of the 22 have been capped previously by England Students: Warden, Tom Mitchell, Adam Bellamy, Alex Waddingham, Louis Messer and Paul Roberts.

It is the first of England Students’ three matches this season. They will face the Portugal national side in Lisbon on March 5 before a re-match with the French in Versailles on March 26.

France Universities won last year’s meeting 35-22 in Riom.

“France will be tough,” said Paul Westgate, England Students' head coach. “Their student players tend to be attached to Top 14 clubs so their day to day rugby is different and they play less university rugby then ours do. 

“We are excited and we believe we have got a very strong squad capable of playing good rugby. We beat the French two years ago and it would be great to kick off 2011 with the same result.”

*Tickets for Friday’s match are £10 adults, £5 students and free to U16s, available on the gate or by calling Richmond FC on 020 8940 0397.

England Students team, v France Universities,

Athletic Ground, Richmond, Surrey, Friday February 25, k-o 7.30pm:

15 Louis Messer (UWIC)

14 Ed Styles (Loughborough)

13 Tom Mitchell (Bristol,  vice-capt)

12 Alex Cheesman (Oxford)

11 Sam Miller (Bath)

10 Chris Reakes (Exeter)

9 Russell Weir (Loughborough)

1 Samuel Lockwood (Leeds Met)

2 Adam Bellamy (Bristol)

3 Camilo Parilli-Ocampo (Loughborough)

4 Will Warden (Loughborough, capt)

5 Matt Smith (UWIC)

6 Alex Waddingham (Loughborough)

7 Tom Sargeant (Exeter)

8 Richard de Carpentier (UWIC)

Replacements:

16 Jack Yeandle (UWIC)

17 Mohammed Mustafa (Liverpool)

18 Richard Boyle (Northumbria)

19 Mike Macfarlane (Loughborough)

20 Callum Grant (Reading)

21 Paul Roberts (Bath)

22 Fred Burdon (Cambridge).

England Students Fixtures 2010-11

Friday February 25 v France Universities, Richmond

Saturday March 5 v Portugal, Lisbon

Saturday March 26 v France Universities, Versailles.

Results 2009-10

Portugal 21 England Students 18, Lisbon
England Students 42 Irish Colleges 9, Gosforth
France Universities 35 England Students 22, Riom.