Fly half Rob Miller and centre Henry Trinder return to the starting line-up and scrum half Jordi Pasqualin makes his debut when England Under 20s take on Scotland tomorrow night (Friday) at Sixways Stadium (kick-off 8pm).
Miller (Newcastle Falcons) and Trinder (Gloucester Rugby) return from Guinness Premiership action to a side showing five changes for the game at Worcester which is live on SkySports3 and kicks off at 8pm.
Pasqualin takes over from Dan White at scrum half and Saracens wing James Short replaces Seb Stegmann, who has been recalled by Harlequins for this weekend’s game against Sale Sharks.
Up front there are changes in the front row with Joe Marler (Harlequins) and James Clark (London Irish) making their first starts of the campaign and Ben Moon (Exeter Chiefs) moving to tight-head prop.
England are aiming to bounce back from last week’s 31-11 defeat to France against a Scotland side that ended Ireland’s unbeaten run in their last outing.
And there is an intriguing subtext to the game – the sides are due to meet again in June in the pool stages of the 2009 IRB Junior World Championship.
“It’s good to get players back and have the experience of Rob Miller and Henry Trinder with us,” said coach Mark Mapletoft.
“There are some areas we need to improve – there were even when we were winning – and it’s difficult with players coming and going and one eye on selection for the Junior World Championship as well.
“We’ve selected a side we believe can go out and improve on the performance against France, win the game on Friday night and put us in a position to select for the Junior World Championship.”
Pasqualin comes into the side on the back of his performances on loan with Moseley and was an important part of last season’s unbeaten England Under 18 side.
“It’s a big chance for Jordi,” said Mapletoft. “With Dave Lewis (Gloucester) injured and Ben Youngs (Leicester) unavailable he has the chance to show us what he’s got to offer. He’s been really keen to be involved this week and it’s a good opportunity for him.”
Scotland have victories against Wales, Italy and Ireland to build on and have clearly made major progress since last year when they were beaten 41-15 and conceded six tries at Falkirk.
And Mapletoft admits the ‘second leg’ that takes place in Tokyo on June 13 is in the back of his mind.
“The Scots have improved a lot this season,” he said. “They put a good marker down against Wales, struggled against France like we did, but then had a couple of good wins and they’ll be hugely keen to wipe out the memories of last year’s game.
“We have discussed it [the JWC meeting] and we’re keen to put a marker down. We’re fully aware that there are a lot of our 32 EPS players unavailable but there are a lot of players on duty who’ll be in the selection mix for the tournament.
“We’ll be meeting again in totally different circumstances in three months time and 10,000 miles away but it is at the back of our minds.”
England Under 20
15 Greig Tonks (Leicester Tigers)
14 George Lowe (Harlequins)
13 Henry Trinder (Gloucester Rugby)
12 Luke Eves (Bristol Rugby)
11 James Short (Saracens)
10 Rob Miller (Newcastle Falcons)
9 Jordi Pasqualin (Gloucester Rugby)
1 Joe Marler (Harlequins)
2 James Clark (London Irish)
3 Ben Moon (Exeter Chiefs)
4 Dan Williams (Gloucester Rugby)
5 James Gaskell (Sale Sharks)
6 Jamie Gibson (London Irish)
7 Jacob Rowan (Leeds Carnegie)
8 Chris York (Harlequins)
Replacements
16 Jamie George (Saracens)
17 Shaun Knight (Gloucester Rugby)
18 Peter Elder (London Wasps)
19 Tom Sargeant (Harlequins)
20 Dan White (Leeds Carnegie)
21 Rory Clegg (Newcastle Falcons)
22 Will Hurrell (Leicester Tigers)
RBS Under 20 Six Nations results/fixtures
February 6: England 17 Italy 0
February 13: Wales 16 England 28
February 27: Ireland 19 England 18
March 13: England 11 France 31
March 20: England v Scotland (Worcester 8pm)
Tickets remain on sale to watch England U20s at the home of the Warriors. Call 01905 454183, visit www.warriors.co.uk or come to the club on match night and visit the Warriors Box Office.