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England U20 Men

27 Jun 2023 | 4 min |

England U20 Men's side to face Fiji

Head coach Mark Mapletoft has named his England U20 Men's side to face Fiji in their second World Championship pool fixture.

The side opened their tournament campaign with a 34-all draw against Ireland U20 Men in Paarl on Saturday. 

Date Thursday 29 June 
Venue Danie Craven Stadium, South Africa
Coverage World Rugby
Kick off 18:00 BST 

Leicester Tigers' Finn Carnduff has been named captain for the match, which will be streamed on the World Rugby digital channels

In the front row, James Halliwell gets his first start after debuting on Saturday, promoted to the starting 23 alongside Archie McArthur and hooker Nathan Jibulu. Behind them, Harlequins’ Harry Browne joins the captain, Carnduff, in the second row. 

Nathan Michelow will start at blind-side flanker, with Tristan Woodman packing down on the opposite side of the scrum, while Zach Carr earns his first England U20 cap at no. 8.  

Nye Thomas is the England scrum-half, playing inside Connor Slevin who again starts at fly-half after a flawless display off the kicking tee in his debut against Ireland. Toby Thame (inside centre) and Alex Wills (left wing) are also in line to make their England U20 debuts. 

Lining up outside them are Joe Jenkins, Jacob Cusick and Louie Johnson who will wear the 13, 14 and 15 shirts respectively.  

Craig Wright, Ethan Clarke, Afolabi Fasogbon, Lewis Chessum, Greg Fisilau, Charlie Bracken, Cassius Cleaves and Tobias Elliott are the replacements.  

The match against Fiji is the second of England’s three pool matches, with a full playing schedule available on the World Rugby website.  

"We were really pleased with the things the team did well in our game against Ireland on Saturday, particularly with how we built upon our performances from the Six Nations," said Mapletoft.

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"We’ve taken learnings on board from the match and have now shifted our attention to Fiji, who gave the Australians a real crack in their tournament opener. With only a five day turnaround between fixtures, our players have prioritised their recovery well. We’ve named a number of debutants for Thursday’s match, so congratulations to those five lads and all others selected."

England U20 team to face Fiji

Starting

15. Louie Johnson (Newcastle Falcons)
14. ​​​​Jacob Cusick (Leicester Tigers
13. Joe Jenkins (Bristol Bears)
12. Toby Thame* (Northampton Saints)
11. ​​​​Alex Wills* (Sale Sharks)
10. Connor Slevin (Harlequins)
9. Nye Thomas (Sale Sharks)
1. Archie McArthur (Gloucester)
2. Nathan Jibulu (Harlequins)
3. James Halliwell (Bristol Bears)
4. Finn Carnduff (Captain, Leicester Tigers)
5. Harry Browne (Harlequins) 
6. Nathan Michelow (Saracens)
7. Tristan Woodman (Sale Sharks)
8. Zach Carr* (Harlequins) 

Replacements

16. Craig Wright* (Northampton Saints)
17. Ethan Clarke* (Harlequins) 
18. Afolabi Fasogbon
19. Lewis Chessum (Leicester Tigers)
20. Greg Fisilau (Exeter Chiefs)
21. Charlie Bracken (Saracens)
22. Cassius Cleaves (Harlequins) 
23. Tobias Elliott (Saracens)

*Denotes England U20 debut