Mapletoft names team for final against France

18 Jul 2024 | 2 min |

Mapletoft names team for final against France

England face France in the World Rugby U20 Championship final on Friday.

Head coach Mark Mapletoft and assistant coach Andy Titterrell have confirmed their matchday 23 to face Les Bleus in the final of the U20 Championship this Friday evening (18:00 BST kick-off).

The game will be available to stream live on RugbyPass TV.

Tournament captain and 2024 U20 Six Nations winner, Finn Carnduff, will win his 20th cap and lead the team out for the final time this week at the DHL Stadium.

Kane James starts at No. 8 alongside loose forward partners Carnduff and Henry Pollock in the only change to the pack from the 31-20 semi-final win over Ireland.

Ben Waghorn returns to the starting XV at outside centre after missing the semi-final and partners Sean Kerr, who contributed 21 points against Ireland, in the midfield.

Versatile back Angus Hall is a replacement for this week’s game, while back row Arthur Green could earn his second cap and takes his place on the replacements bench alongside Hall.

Having defeated Ireland, the side now face another Six Nations opponent, France, in what is their first U20 Championship final since 2018.

Mark Mapletoft said: "The last few days have been a good reminder of the hard work we have all put in to ensuring the development of this group. We are extremely proud to get to the final, but we cannot lose focus of the challenge in front of us.

“Since beating Ireland we have talked about taking even greater ownership. We have shown that in abundance in our last few games and it encapsulates what this squad is about.

"We expect nothing less come Friday. We will approach the game with the same fearlessness and resilience that has been so important to this point. We want to make our family, friends and all England supporters proud.”

Team to play France

Starting

15. Ioan Jones

14. Ben Redshaw

13. Ben Waghorn

12. Sean Kerr

11. Alex Wills

10. Ben Coen

9. Ollie Allan

1. Asher Opoku-Fordjour

2. Craig Wright

3. Afolabi Fasogbon