England U20 Head Coach Rob Hunter has named a strong side to face Scotland at Newbury’s Monks Lane on Friday night (kick off 8pm) – and retained Worcester duo Andy Short and Matt Kvesic in his starting line-up.
The most notable inclusions see Aviva Premiership regulars Owen Farrell (Saracens) brought in at 12 while Sale Sharks prop Henry Thomas will start on the bench.
In total there are five personnel changes and one positional alteration to the side that started the 19-8 victory over France in Worcester two weeks ago.
Farrell is joined by London Wasps pair Joe Launchbury and Christian Wade at No.4 and No.11 respectively, while Gloucester Rugby scrum half Dan Robson and Harlequins hooker Rob Buchanan also start. The positional change sees London Irish’s Kieran Low switch from lock to blindside flanker.
London Wasps forward Sam Jones makes his first U20 appearance of the season on the bench, along with London Irish’s flying wing Jonathan Joseph.
Speaking about his match day squad Hunter said: “We’ve made a few changes and it’s nice to have such good competition for places.
“We’re in a good position this week where we have a lot of players available to us, but we have a lot of guys performing well and putting pressure on each other.
“Scotland will be strong, committed, quick and organised. They present a different challenge from the three sides we’ve faced so far and any game against Scotland is huge due to the enormous amount of history and spice between the two nations.”
The England U20 match against Scotland will be live on the Sky Sports 3 red button. Tickets are available on the door at Monks Lane from £12, with children under ten receiving free entry.
England U20 team to face Scotland:
15 Ben Ransom (Saracens)
14 Andy Short (Worcester Warriors)
13 Elliot Daly (London Wasps)
12 Owen Farrell (Saracens)
11 Christian Wade (London Wasps)
10 George Ford (Leicester Tigers)
9 Dan Robson (Gloucester Rugby)
1 Mako Vunipola (Bristol Rugby)
2 Rob Buchanan (Harlequins)
3 Will Collier (Harlequins)
4 Joe Launchbury (London Wasps)
5 Charlie Matthews (Harlequins)
6 Kieran Low (Harlequins)
7 Matt Kvesic (Worcester Warriors)
8 Alex Gray (C) (Newcastle Falcons)
Replacements:
16 Koree Britton (Gloucester Rugby)
17 Henry Thomas (Sale Sharks)
18 Sam Jones (London Wasps)
19 Matt Everard (Leicester Tigers)
20 Chris Cook (Bath Rugby)
21 Jamie Elliott (Northampton Saints)
22 Jonathan Joseph (London Irish)