Under the stewardship of  Fletcher, England U18  have enjoyed several years of success, with 24 wins in their last 27 internationals, including their most recent triumph – a 46-19 win against Australia last August.

Twelve of last year’s squad, including promising Exeter quartet Luke Cowan-Dickie, Sam Hill, Henry Slade and Jack Nowell, have all graduated to the Under 20 EPS side.

Of the current crop, Gloucester’s Billy Burns has Premiership pedigree as the younger brother of Cherry and Whites fly half, and former England U18 man, Freddie. While London Irish wing Tony Watson has already made his Aviva Premiership debut, coming on as a 70th minute substitute for Topsy Ojo in Irish’s 46-29 win against Newcastle Falcons on September 24.

Watson has also been nominated by the RFU for the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year, but the 17-year-old back remains unfazed and insists that he’s taking it each game as it comes.

“I’m enjoying my rugby at the moment,” explained Watson. “I’m really excited about the forthcoming season with the U18 squad, we had a lot of success last year, but hopefully we can really push on with the new group.

“John Fletcher and Peter Walton are both exceptional coaches and have helped my development immensely, I’m looking forward to working with them again and improving myself as a player.”

Fletcher added: “We’ve got a lot of new players coming in this season, so we’ll be looking to the likes of Tony, who have played at this level, to lead by example. We feel that the U18 programme complements and adds value to the outstanding work that is going on in the schools, colleges and academies.

“England have some excellent players coming through the system and the future is bright, it is not just the percentage of wins but the style of rugby that we play that is most pleasing. The age group is crucial not just for their rugby development but as important, developing them as good people with good values and behaviours.

England U18 provisional squad 2011/12

Name (School & Club)

Forwards

Jake Armstrong (Woodhouse Grove & Leeds Carnegie)
Josh Buggea (Hartpury College & Worcester Warriors)
Joel Conlon (Ivybridge Community College & Exeter Chiefs)
Tom Ellis (Millfield & Bath Rugby)
Danny Hobbs (Moulton College & Northampton Saints)
David Hughes (Twyford C& E High School & London Wasps)
Maro Itoje (Harrow School & Saracens)
Sam James (Bishops Storford & Saracens)
Gus Jones (Eton College & London Wasps)
Jonny Kenny (Kings Macclesfield & Sale Sharks)
Alex Lundberg (Hampton & London Wasps)
Max Northcote-Green (Millfied & Bath Rugby)
Beno Obano (Dulwich College & London Wasps)
Steven Uren (Filton College & Bristol Rugby)
Scott Wilson (Sedbergh School & Newcastle Falcons)

Backs

Callum Braley (Hartpury College & Bristol Rugby)
Billy Burns (Hartpury College & Gloucester Rugby)
Nick Carpenter (Filton College & Bristol Rugby)
Tom Chapman (Colfe’s School & Saracens)
Oliver Cicognini (Ermysteads Grammar School & Leeds Carnegie)
Oliver Claxton (Adams Grammar School & Worcester Warriors)
Tom Collins (Moulton College & Northampton Saints)
Zach Kibirige (Yarm School & Newcastle Falcons)
Charlie Kingsman (Kings Canterbury School & Saracens)
Sam Olver (Oundle School & Northampton Saints)
Javiah Pohe (Wyggeston & Queen Elizabeth 1st & Leicester Tigers)
Tom Stephenson (Moulton College & Northampton Saints)
Josh Watkins (Bromsgrove School & Worcester Warriors)
Tony Watson (St Georges College & London Irish)

London Irish wing Anthony Watson went over the line with seconds left to play to secure a 38-34 win, and Fletcher said:

“For the last 15 minutes we were outstanding, It’s some of the best rugby any Under 18 team that I’ve coached have played. The game could have gone either way, but often when you finish games the strongest you come out on top.

“It was a close one – we cut it quite fine, but you have to play for the full 70-minutes. We started quite brightly, getting an early try, but we were second best for the rest of the half. I was really pleased with the second half effort though, we came out and increased the intensity and moved them around. We though that if we did that we’d create a few gaps, and fortunately that’s what happened.”

England will now face Ireland in the final after the Irish beat hosts France 19-17 in the other semi-final. Fletcher’s side have already played Ireland this season, beating them 29-12 in Dublin in December, but the former Newcastle Falcons Head Coach has said that England can’t take anything for granted:

“It’s irrelevant what has happened in the past," Fletcher said. "Ireland have beaten a strong French side and they’ll be up for the final. At this level it’s about who turns up on the day, the margins between the elite sides in the northern hemisphere are marginal but we’re confident that we can produce.”

John Fletcher - England U18 head coach

England Under 18 head coach John Fletcher has started work with the next generation of the game’s international stars.

Fletcher and assistant Peter Walton have put together a 26-man squad for this season’s England age group programme which kicks off against Ireland in December.

They staged their first training camp at Harrow School this month and assemble again at the National Sports Centre at Bisham Abbey in October before playing Ireland away from home on December 30.

England have won three consecutive Grand Slams and 19 of their last 20 internationals at this level since the summer of 2007, a run ended last month by an agonising 23-17 defeat against South Africa in Port Elizabeth.

And former Newcastle Falcons boss Fletcher will continue to instil the same playing philosophy of attacking with pace and width into his latest crop of teenagers.

“We aspire to play a similar brand of rugby to the last two years, with lots of pace and width and posing as many threats to the opposition as we can in as many areas of the pitch as possible,” Fletcher said.

“The evidence from our summer camps with Under 16 and Under 18 players is that the technical and tactical ability continues to improve and that’s to the credit of the regional academies, clubs and schools who do a better job each year.

“We’re continuing to grow our programme with England too – in areas like prehab work, where we look at educating the players more about their bodies, and some of the psychological work we do – and we continue to evolve what we do technically and tactically.

“Our overall philosophy is to have as many attacking options as we can so that when these young players move on with the Under 20, Saxons and senior England teams, and with their clubs, they have a bigger toolkit to use to go out there and win games.”

England welcome back five players – front row forwards Luke Cowan-Dickie (Truro College & Exeter Chiefs), Nathan Morris (Sedbergh & London Wasps) and Kyle Sinckler (Epsom College & Harlequins), lock Dominic Barrow (Prince Henry’s GS & Leeds Carnegie) and wing Mark Jennings (Myerscough College & Sale Sharks) – who appeared in all of their Six Nations games last season.

Five more took part in July’s three-match tour to South Africa in the shape of lock Tom Jubb (Oaklands College & Saracens), Exeter Chiefs midfield backs Jack Arnott and Sam Hill (both Ivybridge College) and Henry Slade (Plymouth College), and wing/full back Anthony Watson (St George’s College, Weybridge & London Irish).

The RFU’s Head of Elite Player Development Stuart Lancaster paid tribute to the work done throughout the country in schools, in colleges running the Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence rugby programme and in the academy system.

Lancaster said: “There is no doubt the quality of players being produced through the academy programme is on the rise and this year’s intake are all great examples of what is being achieved by the educational partnerships that are in place when you look at the balance of players selected from schools and through the AASE programme.

“Everyone is really working hard to maximise the quality of players coming out of the programmes and this group look to have an exciting year ahead of them working with the successful Under 18 management team headed by John Fletcher.”

England Under 18 squad

Forwards
Dominic Barrow (Prince Henry’s GS & Leeds Carnegie)
Jack Clifford (RGS Guildford & Harlequins)
Luke Cowan-Dickie (Truro College & Exeter Chiefs)
Matt Hankin (Haileybury College & Saracens)
Danny Herriott (Moulton College & Northampton Saints)
Alec Hepburn (Henley College & London Wasps)
Gus Jones (Eton College & London Wasps)
Tom Jubb (Oaklands College & Saracens)
Nathan Morris (Sedbergh & London Wasps)
Tom Price (Wyggeston & Queen Elizabeth I & Leicester Tigers)
George Sandford (St Paul’s Catholic College & London Irish)
Kyle Sinckler (Epsom College & Harlequins)
David Sisi (St Paul’s Catholic College & London Irish)
Tom Smallbone (Harrow & London Irish)
Scott Spurling (Harrow & Saracens)

Backs
Jack Arnott (Ivybridge College & Exeter Chiefs)
Alex Day (St Joseph’s College & Northampton Saints)
Sam Hill (Ivybridge College & Exeter Chiefs)
Will Hooley (The Leys & Northampton Saints)
Mark Jennings (Myerscough College & Sale Sharks)
James Lightfoot-Brown (St Paul’s Catholic College & London Irish)
Jack Nowell (Truro College & Exeter Chiefs)
Henry Slade (Plymouth College & Exeter Chiefs)
Mitchell Tamiau (Twyford CofE HS & London Wasps)
Anthony Watson (St George’s College & London Irish)
Marcus Webber (Manchester GS & Leeds Carnegie)

John Fletcher: U18 coach

England Under 18 return to action on Sunday against the only side to have dented their impressive 14-match winning run. England, coached by John Fletcher and Peter Walton, haven’t been beaten in an international at this level since an 11-3 defeat against Australia in Brisbane in 2007.

But France – visitors to Newbury this weekend – edged past them in a training game last season and will threaten all over the field, according to former Newcastle Falcons boss Fletcher.

Fly half George Ford (Rishworth & Leicester Tigers) leads the side at Monks Lane and Fletcher makes seven changes to the team that beat Australian Schools 30-28 at Sale in December.

Injured Dulwich College and Harlequins lock Sam Twomey (knee) and Harrow and London Wasps flanker Billy Vunipola are replaced by George Merrick (Whitgift & Harlequins) and Will Skuse (Bryanston & Bath Rugby) respectively, while props Luke Cowan-Dickie (Truro Coll & Exeter Chiefs) and Anthony Brennan (Twyford CofE & London Wasps) make their first starts.

In the backline, Joel Hodgson (RGS Newcastle & Newcastle Falcons) takes over at scrum half, Ryan Mills (Hartpury Coll & Gloucester) comes in at inside centre and Charlie Walker (Oakham & Leicester Tigers) on the left wing.

“We played France last year in a training game – three 20 minute periods – and they beat us by a point after we’d scored three tries each,” said head coach Fletcher.

“They’ll be tough – big aggressive forwards, quick backs. We know what they’ll throw at us and last year they were very strong at Under 17 level.”

England, though, are buoyant after their last outing, when replacement wing Tommy Bell finished off a superb 80 metre attack to secure victory over an older Australian side at Heywood Road.

Fletcher added: “We try and develop players to play a game with a lot of threats, no matter what the opposition do. Wherever they’re looking to defend we look to score somewhere else, driving, kicking, moving the ball wide.

“The current squad are a good bunch. There’s hardly any carry over from last year so it takes time for a new squad to gel but they’ve come together well and that showed in the game they played against Australia. Scoring right at the end to win such a good game was really good for their spirit and morale.”

ENGLAND UNDER 18 (v France at Newbury, Sunday, 3pm)
15 Ben Ransom (Tonbridge & Saracens)
14 Marland Yarde (Whitgift & London Irish)
13 Elliot Daly (Whitgift & London Wasps)
12 Ryan Mills (Hartpury Coll & Gloucester)
11 Charlie Walker (Oakham & Leicester Tigers)
10 George Ford (Rishworth & Leicester Tigers, Captain)
9 Joel Hodgson (RGS Newcastle & Newcastle Falcons)
1 Luke Cowan-Dickie (Truro Coll & Exeter Chiefs)
2 Koree Britton (Ivybridge Coll & Exeter Chiefs)
3 Anthony Brennan (Twyford CofE & London Wasps)
4 George Merrick (Whitgift & Harlequins)
5 Dominic Barrow (Prince Henry’s GS Otley & Leeds Carnegie)
6 Will Skuse (Bryanston & Bath Rugby)
7 Chris Walker (Prince Henry’s GS Otley & Leeds Carnegie)
8 Matt Kvesic (Worcester Sixth Form Coll & Worcester Warriors)

Replacements
16 Nick Auterac (Oaklands Coll & Saracens)
17 Nathan Morris (Sedbergh & Newcastle Falcons)
18 Kyle Sinckler (Epsom Coll & Harlequins)
19 Will Spencer (St Paul’s Catholic Coll & London Wasps)
20 Sam Northcote-Green (Dulwich Coll & London Wasps)
21 Dan Robson (Hartpury Coll & Gloucester Rugby)
22 Jamie Elliott (Bedford & Northampton Saints)
23 Mark Jennings (Lymm HS & Sale Sharks)

Coach John Fletcher was always confident that his side had the talent to test the visitors and they fulfilled all his expectations in holding the whip-hand from the moment full-back Jonathan Joseph (London Irish) crossed for the opening try and fly-half Jake Sharp (Saracens) converted.

Sharp claimed the second after 19 minutes and converted his own score for a 14-0 lead and while Australian centre Matthew Garland cut the deficit with a 29th minute try to raise the visitors’ morale and make the interval scoreline 14-5.

However, a third try from wingman Earl Collins (Worcester Warriors) on 40 minutes opened up the lead once again, although once again the tourists refused to concede the struggle and rallied with a try by flanker Jack de Guingand that scrum-half and captain Matthew Lucas converted to bring his side within a score at 19-12.

Sharp then steadied the home team’s nerves with a penalty before leaving the field as a precaution ahead of an outing on the Saracens bench against Castres on Friday, but Joseph had the last word when he crossed for the final try after 68 minutes.

A cameo moment for the hosts came when 16-year-old replacement centre Mark Jennings from Lymm High School and Sale Sharks took the field when the management elected to use all their replacements.

The tourists now stay in the North West to prepare for their next game, an international against England Under 18s at Sale FC’s Heywood Road headquarters on Sunday (2pm), when coach Fletcher will once again be in charge.

“The game was very tough, physical battle,” said Fletcher: “We lacked precision at times and it was a bit scrappy but for us to score four tries against opposition of that calibre after only half a day’s preparation was a pretty good effort,” said Fletcher. “So far as the tourists are concerned, they compete well for the ball and they are very dangerous in broken play situations, as you would expect.”

England U19 Regional Academies 27 (Tries: Joseph 2, Sharp, Collins. Con: Sharp 2. Pen: Sharp) Australia Schools 12 (Tries: Garland, De Guingand. Con: Lucas)

England Academies squad: forwards: Harry Allen (Saracens), Pete Austin (London Irish), Ryan Bower (Leicester Tigers), Matt Everard (Leicester Tigers), Ben Glynn (Bristol Rugby), Tom Hicks (Northampton Saints), Sam Jones (London Wasps), Charlie Matthews (Harlequins), Jethro Rawling (Leicester Tigers), Ollie Steadman (Leeds Carnegie), Henry Thomas (Sales Sharks), Mako Vunipola (Bristol Rugby). Backs: Tommy Bell (Sales Sharks), Earl Collins (Worcester Warriors), Owen Farrell (Saracens), Ryan Glynn (Sales Sharks), Mark Jennings (Sale Sharks), Jonathan Joseph (London Irish), Jake Sharp (Saracens), Andy Short (Worcester), Sam Stuart (Harlequins), Marcus Watson (London Irish).