England U20s set for a big year
Jon Callard is the Head Coach of the U20s in what promises to be a memorbale year for them
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The England U20 side will have a new-look coaching team this year after the Rugby Football Union announced last week that Rory Teague, a Saracens academy coach, will come on board as the age-grade side’s new backs coach.
Teague will be joined by Peter Walton, who will be responsible for the forwards, following Walton’s promotion from assistant coach with the U18 side. Jon Callard will continue as head coach, in what was supposed to be an interim role, after Ian Peel moved on to positions with the England senior team and Saracens.
The next seven months promise to be testing ones for the U20 side, as they prepare for and compete in a home World Rugby U20 Championship, the first time the tournament has been held in England.
Those preparations will move up a gear next month when the U20 Six Nations kicks off and England enter the tournament with heavy expectations on their shoulders.
Since the disbanding of U19 and U21 age-grade distinctions, England have won five of the eight U20 Six Nations, including two Grand Slams. During that time period, they have also won two World Championships and made it to the final in six of the eight editions of the tournament. Those two World Championship wins have both come in the last three seasons.
There is a fresh look to the squad with a number of players graduating from the side following the World Championship in Italy last year. Just eight of the 32-man squad featured for the U20s last year, but optimism abounds with a number of stellar promotions from last year’s U18 side.
Jack Walker returns for his third year with the U20s and is a strong candidate to follow in the footsteps of fellow forwards Jack Clifford, Maro Itoje and Charlie Ewels and captain the side. Walker provides some much-needed experience in a youthful tight five, while Joshua Bainbridge and George Perkins will do likewise in the back row and back three respectively.
Injury prevented Joe Marchant and Harry Mallinder from featuring at last year’s World Championship, but both players are fit and looking ready to put their mark down during the upcoming Six Nations. Lewis Boyce, Taylor Prell and Huw Taylor are the remaining players with U20 experience.
Eddie Jones will certainly be watching with interest as Mallinder is joined by fellow highly-touted fly-halves Theo Brophy-Clews, Max Malins, Jamie Shillcock and Mat Protheroe in the expanded squad. Protheroe may well be utilised at full-back, but there’s a chance that England will opt for two creative, playmaking types at 10 and 12, something which Jones is famed for preferring in the sides he has coached.
Alternatively, London Irish standout Johnny Williams could start at inside centre, but given his role in the Irish first team this season, it’s unlikely he’ll be available for duty during the Six Nations. Marchant’s starting position in the centres is a certainty barring injury and the wing role opposite Perkins could be a two-horse race between Leicester’s Paolo Odogwu and Harlequins’ Sam Aspland-Robinson. Aspland-Robinson could also be in contention for the 15 jersey.
Another Harlequin likely to feature prominently is flanker Archie White. A former captain of Quins’ academy team, White made his debut for the senior side in the European Challenge Cup this season at the age of 18 and could join Bainbridge on England’s flanks. Bath’s Zach Mercer will be a strong favourite pack down at number eight, following a very impressive 2014/15 campaign with the U18 side.
Newcastle’s Callum Chick will push Mercer at eight, but he could be moved into the second row to accommodate the young Bath back rower. If he does move to lock, he will likely pack down alongside Andrew Kitchener, the younger brother of Leicester lock Graham.
The younger Kitchener, who is a member of Worcester’s academy, will be joined in the U20 side by a number of his club teammates. Shillcock, Taylor, Jack Singleton and Samuel Smith make up the rest of the Worcester contingent in the squad, which sees the Aviva Premiership new-boys contribute more players to the 2016 U20 squad than any other side.
This year’s squad may be inexperienced at U20 level, but there are a number of players with senior experience for their club sides. Brophy-Clews, Marchant, White, Williams and Ollie Thorley all have multiple senior appearances for Premiership sides, Saracens’ Perkins has shone on loan at Bedford Blues this season, while Bainbridge and Walker are first team regulars for Yorkshire Carnegie.
With a home World Championship beckoning, this year’s U20 Six Nations will take on even higher importance than normal for England and it will be intriguing to see whether they can fill the large shoes of the recent classes.
Possible XV to face Scotland on February 5th (assuming Williams and Brophy-Clews are retained by London Irish):
Mat Protheroe, George Perkins, Ollie Thorley, Joe Marchant, Sam Aspland-Robinson; Max Malins, Jack Maunder; Jake Pope, Jack Walker, Billy Walker; Andrew Kitchener, Stanley South; Archie White, Joshua Bainbridge, Zach Mercer.
