Revised England U20 EPS

Posted on Jan 14, 2011 in Rugby News

England U20 head coach Rob Hunter today announced his revised Under 20 Elite Player Squad for this season’s major tournaments.

Hunter, assisted by Diccon Edwards, has made two changes to the 32-man group taking part in the U20 6 Nations, kicking off in February against Wales in Llanelli, and in this summer’s IRB Junior World Championship in Italy.

London Irish centre Guy Armitage, brother of England players Delon and Steffon, and Northampton Saints hooker Mike Haywood, both 19, are the newest additions to the squad, in place of Marcus Watson (London Irish) and Billy Vunipola (London Wasps).

Hunter feels that both players have ability to make the step-up to international rugby, and said: “I’ve been impressed with both Guy and Mike, they came out to Portugal with us on our training camp and looked sharp.

“They were close to being named in the initial squad but there’s a lot of competition at this age grade and a lot of players getting first team rugby at their respective clubs, so it’s tough to narrow that down to a squad of 32. We’ve also got a few players coming back from injury and that will strengthen us hugely.

“Elliot Daly is doing very well with Wasps while Owen Farrell and Manu Tuilagi are seeing a lot of action with their clubs and the likes of Will Collier, Rob Buchanan and Ben Ransom have been on the bench for Premiership matches – that kind of experience is vital in their development.

“It’s important to take each 6 Nations game one at a time, we start off by playing Wales in Wales and that will be tough but we’ve got a good squad and I’m confident we can go there and give them a good game.”

RFU Head of Elite Player Development Stuart Lancaster added: “We think that this squad is a strong one and the amount competition for places in each position reflects well on the work the regional academies are doing.

"A lot of the players in this squad have come through our age group international programme and that goes to show how well the development pathway is working with players progressing through from the 18s into the Under 20s and then hopefully pushing for places in the Senior and Saxons EPS Squads."

The Under 20 squad has a week’s training camp at Surrey Sports Park on January 17 before reassembling on February 1 for the build-up to their opening game of the 6 Nations against Wales.
England U20 Elite Player Squad

Forwards
Ryan Bower (Leicester Tigers)
Koree Britton (Gloucester Rugby)
Rob Buchanan (Harlequins)*
Will Collier (Harlequins)
Matt Everard (Leicester Tigers)
Alex Gray (Newcastle Falcons)*
Jonny Harris (Leicester Tigers)
Sam Jones (London Wasps)
Matt Kvesic (Worcester Warriors)
Addison Lockley (Exeter Chiefs)
Kieran Low (London Irish)
Charlie Matthews (Harlequins)*
Ollie Stedman (Leeds Carnegie)
Henry Thomas (Sale Sharks)
Sam Twomey (Harlequins)
Mike Haywood (Northampton Saints)
Mako Vunipola (Bristol Rugby)*

Backs
Chris Cook (Bath Rugby)
Elliot Daly (London Wasps)
Owen Farrell (Saracens)
George Ford (Leicester Tigers)
Jonathan Joseph (London Irish)*
Ryan Mills (Gloucester Rugby)
Ben Ransom (Saracens)
Dan Robson (Gloucester Rugby)
Jake Sharp (Saracens)*
Andy Short (Worcester Warriors)
Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers)
Christian Wade (London Wasps)*
Jack Wallace (London Wasps)*
Guy Armitage (London Irish)
Marland Yarde (London Irish)

* Capped by England at U20 level last season
England’s RBS U20 Six Nations fixtures
Feb 5: Wales U20 v England U20 (Llanelli, 6.30pm)
Feb 11: England U20 v Italy U20 (Bath, 7.30pm)
Feb 27: England U20 v France U20 (Worcester, 3.15pm)
Mar 11: England U20 v Scotland U20 (Newbury, 8.00pm)
Mar 18: Ireland U20 v England U20 (Athlone, 7.45pm)

England squads announced

Posted on Jan 12, 2011 in Rugby News

The January 2011 England and England Saxons Elite Player Squads have been announced today by England Team Manager Martin Johnson and England Saxons Head Coach Stuart Lancaster.

There are three additions to the England EPS in Sale Sharks / Saracens fly half Charlie Hodgson, Leicester Tigers lock Louis Deacon and uncapped London Wasps scrum half Joe Simpson.

Deacon and Simpson replace David Attwood (Gloucester Rugby) and Dominic Waldouck (London Wasps) respectively with Hodgson’s addition making up a 33-man group.

Simpson, 21, makes his first appearance in the England senior EPS and is one of 14 players in the squad aged 25 or under.

Temporary injury replacements for Northampton Saints lock Courtney Lawes and Leicester Tigers flanker Tom Croft will be named later this month.

England open the 2011 RBS 6 Nations against Wales at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Friday, February 4 (7.45pm).

Twenty year-olds Joe Marler and James Gaskell are among six changes to the England Saxons squad where Lancaster will be joined by National Academy coaches Jon Callard and Simon Hardy this season.

The Saxons face Italy A at Worcester on January 29 (3.15pm) and Ireland A in Belfast on February 4 (7.30pm).

Harlequins prop Marler, Northampton Saints centre Jon Clarke, Leicester Tigers fly half Billy Twelvetrees and Attwood are added in place of Jon Golding (Newcastle Falcons), Shane Geraghty (Northampton Saints), Hodgson and Deacon.

Sale Sharks forward Gaskell and Northampton Saints lock Christian Day are named as injury replacements for Tom Rees (London Wasps) and Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers).

Temporary injury replacements for prop Matt Mullan (Worcester Warriors), hooker Rob Webber (London Wasps) and Dan Ward-Smith (London Wasps) will be named later this month.

ENGLAND ELITE PLAYER SQUAD

FORWARDS
George Chuter (Leicester Tigers)
Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers)
Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers)
Louis Deacon (Leicester Tigers)
Paul Doran-Jones (Gloucester Rugby)
Nick Easter (Harlequins)
Hendre Fourie (Leeds Carnegie)
Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints)
James Haskell (Stade Francais)
Courtney Lawes(Northampton Saints)
Lewis Moody (Bath Rugby)
Tom Palmer (Stade Francais)
Tim Payne (London Wasps)
Simon Shaw (London Wasps)
Andrew Sheridan (Sale Sharks)
Steve Thompson (Leeds Carnegie)
David Wilson (Bath Rugby)
Joe Worsley (London Wasps)

BACKS
Delon Armitage (London Irish)
Chris Ashton (Northampton Saints)
Matt Banahan (Bath Rugby)
Danny Care (Harlequins)
Mark Cueto (Sale Sharks)
Toby Flood (Leicester Tigers)
Riki Flutey (London Wasps)
Ben Foden (Northampton Saints)
Shontayne Hape (Bath Rugby)
Charlie Hodgson (Sale Sharks)
Joe Simpson (London Wasps)
David Strettle (Saracens)
Mike Tindall (Gloucester Rugby)
Jonny Wilkinson (Toulon)
Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
(33)

ENGLAND SAXONS EPS

FORWARDS
Steffon Armitage (London Irish)
David Attwood (Gloucester Rugby)
Duncan Bell (Bath Rugby)
Steve Borthwick (Saracens)
Alex Corbisiero (London Irish)
Jordan Crane (Leicester Tigers)
Christian Day (Northampton Saints)
Phil Dowson (Northampton Saints)
James Gaskell (Sale Sharks)
Joe Marler (Harlequins)
Lee Mears (Bath Rugby)
Matt Mullan (Worcester Warriors)
Luke Narraway (Gloucester Rugby)
Chris Robshaw (Harlequins)
Andrew Saull (Saracens)
Dan Ward-Smith (London Wasps)
Rob Webber (London Wasps)
Tom Wood (Northampton Saints)

BACKS
Nick Abendanon (Bath Rugby)
Anthony Allen (Leicester Tigers)
Brad Barritt (Saracens)
Jon Clarke (Northampton Saints)
Alex Goode (Saracens)
Dan Hipkiss (Leicester Tigers)
Paul Hodgson (London Irish)
Ugo Monye (Harlequins)
Stephen Myler (Northampton Saints)
James Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester Rugby)
Mathew Tait (Sale Sharks)
Billy Twelvetrees (Leicester Tigers)
Dominic Waldouck (London Wasps)
Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens)

England EPS update

Posted on Nov 24, 2010 in Rugby News

The following players are returning to their clubs in the Aviva Premiership and the Top 14 in France this evening from the Senior England EPS training camp.

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Andrew on dropped Borthwick

Posted on Jul 2, 2010 in Rugby News

Rob Andrew has saluted the leadership of Steve Borthwick and hailed the arrival of England’s new generation. On the day the England Elite Player Squads were announced, the RFU’s Elite Rugby Director told the RFU Podcast, “Steve’s done a fantastic job in a difficult period of rebuilding. “He carried himself and the England team well and it was a very tough call (to leave him out of the senior squad).”

With Borthwick recovering from injury, the door opened for the likes of Dave Attwood and Courtney Lawes to shine and Andrew added, “We’ve tried hard to create real competition and strength in depth. With so many young players coming through, all the players know they have to perform to hang on to their shirt.”

There have been 11 changes to the EPS announced in January, including the elevation of Attwood and Dan Cole and addition of Lawes, whilst Borthwick has been included in the England Saxons EPS.

England’s five-match Australasia tour included three midweek matches. “Those midweek matches were just as important – if not more so – that the Test matches because they gave that next level of player the chance to play in some very competitive games,” added Andrew.

The England Podcast can be downloaded here

Borthwick out of England EPS

Posted on Jul 1, 2010 in Rugby News

England today named the 32-man Senior and Saxons Elite Player Squads for the 2010/11 season.

The changes made to the Senior EPS since the last announcement in January include the elevation of forwards David Attwood, George Chuter, Dan Cole, Paul Doran-Jones, Hendre Fourie and Tom Palmer. The backs promoted are Chris Ashton, David Strettle, Mike Tindall, Dominic Waldouck and Ben Youngs.

Players who appeared in the 2010 RBS 6 Nations stepping down into the Saxons EPS include Steve Borthwick, who led the side against Wales, Italy, Ireland and Scotland, Ugo Monye, Mathew Tait and Louis Deacon.

England Team Manager Martin Johnson said: “This was undoubtedly the most difficult EPS selection we’ve had to make in my time in the job. I think we’ve picked the best players and the fact that some experienced guys have missed out goes to show the depth we’ve now got.

“Leaving Steve Borthwick out was a very hard decision. He’s done a fantastic job for England over the last couple of years and it’s the most difficult call we’ve had to make. It is very tough on Steve but it goes to show the depth of talent we’ve got in that area.

“We want to build on what we’ve done this summer and a Southern Hemisphere tour that was hugely beneficial and a really positive experience for the group. We were able to give lots of opportunities to players and expose them to a high level of rugby.”

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