England U20 Men firing ahead of Six Nations
Alan Dickens’ side secured wins over Oxford and Loughborough Universities in preparation for this year's U20 Six Nations.
Dickens’ says the squad is in a ‘positive’ position after the results, and go into their campaign opener against Scotland on 3 February with momentum.
Leicester Tigers lock Lewis Chessum and Sale Sharks centre Rekeiti Ma'asi-White shared the captaincy duties in the 31-0 victory over Oxford, and Chessum was in charge when registering the 52-21 win over Loughborough.
That game saw England score eight tries against the Students with: Ma’asi-White, Jack Walsh, Cassius Cleaves, Benjamin Waghorn and Connor Slevin all crossing from the backline, while in the forwards Afolabi Fasogbon bagged one, and Calum Scott claimed two.
"We’ve been in camp for the last two weeks, where we’ve been focused on coming together as a group and the impressive mindset from the players meant we could do exactly that," said Dickens.
"There are lots of positives we will take away from our time together in January. The players showed a real commitment in camp and in their first match against Oxford Uni, so there was fierce competition for selection ahead of the Loughborough fixture. They backed that up on the pitch, with both first half and second half teams performing well.
"We’ll now continue preparations for our Under-20 Six Nations campaign, which kicks off against Scotland at Twickenham Stoop in less than two weeks. We’ll keep working to improve every time we come together, to build as a team, and move forward through 2023.
U20 Six Nations schedule
Friday 3 February – England v Scotland – KO 19:00 GMT – Twickenham Stoop, London
Friday 10 February – England v Italy – KO 19:00 GMT – Kingsholm Stadium, Gloucester
Friday 24 February – Wales v England – KO 19:15 GMT
Friday 10 March – England v France – KO 20:00 GMT – The Recreation Ground, Bath
Sunday 19 March – Ireland v England – KO 17:00 GMT