England U20 Side named to face Scotland 2012
By RFU Press Office
February 1 2012
England Under 20 Head Coach Rob Hunter has named a strong squad ahead of his side's Six Nations opener against Scotland in Firhill on Friday, February 3 (kick off 7.30pm). Fans can watch the game live on RFU.com/6Nstreaming.
| England Under 20 name side to face Scotland | ||||
Leicester Tigers fly half and IRB Junior Player of the Year George Ford captains the side for the first time, and is joined by seven players from last season’s U20s in the starting line up. Eight of the match day squad represented John Fletcher's England U18 team last season. With a relatively new squad at his disposal, Hunter is excited to see what his players have to offer. He said: "We're excited about getting into the Six Nations, it’s a new side and we are all looking forward to seeing them play. We have a good blend of experience and fresh faces” “Competition for places is high. We are pleased with how the team has come together, we have had a fantastic week’s preparation in Stirling and we would like to thank the University and Wallace High School for their help and the use of their facilities. There are no easy games in this tournament and starting off against Scotland in Glasgow will be tough.” New skipper George Ford added: "It's a massive honour to be named captain for this game, but the most important thing for us is to work as hard as we can as a team for 80 minutes against a strong Scotland side. We played them twice last year and we know that they're a threat so we'll need to be on our game and stick to our plan. "There are a lot of new lads in this side, but a few older heads too. The likes of Matt Kvesic, Elliot Daly and Dan Robson all have Six Nations experience and it's important for us to utilise that for the benefit of the team." England Under 20 starting XV to face Scotland 15) Ben Ransom (Saracens) 1) Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs) Replacements: 16) Scott Spurling (Saracens) NOTE: This game will be shown exclusively live on RFU.com/6NStreaming |
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England had an obvious physical advantage. However I also thought they were faster and simply more talented than their opponents.
Yarde had a hatrick by about the half hour mark. He could've had more but dropped a few passes & was the subject of a try saving tackle. He took some hits and I was surprised he didn't go off injured. The other winger Walker scored a couple also. Watson came off the bench and scored with his first touch, great line and then the pace. He's still eligible for the U18 side but looked comfortable at this level.
I rate Daly but this wasn't his best game and (the less talented imo) Mills was the more impressive centre.
The halfbacks were very good. Robson was one of the less impressive players in 2011 but fared well today. Ford just seems to have more time than others.
Forwards dominated. Clifford scored. The tighthead looked a prospect.
Only negatives might be the lineout occasionally and a couple of penalties reversed for backchat. Oh and early in the 2nd half a succession of penalties led to England going down to 14 men for ten mins.
The stream wasn't the greatest quality but thanks to the RFU/SRU for making the effort. It wasn't always working (not just for me, other complaints on Planet Rugby) so perhaps there were more viewers than anticpated. They got 6k for a Womens Test stream, will the RFU state how many the U20 game attracted?
Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 2012:02:03:23:48:43 by Slater582.