England Under-18 have named their squad to take on Scotland in Hawick on Sunday (March 18, kick off 2.00pm) – and include young Warriors trio Josh Buggea, Oliver Claxton and Josh Watkins.
Scotland were 26-21 victors when the two sides met last March and John Fletcher’s team will be looking to put in a strong performance before they jet-off to Madrid for the FIRA/AER tournament that starts on March 30.
England kick-started their season with an 18-16 win against France in February with tries from Callum Braley and Anthony Watson and two penalties from Billy Burns the difference between the sides.
Head coach John Fletcher said: “This is a game we’re really looking forward to – Scotland beat us last season at U17s at West Park Leeds and all the players are really looking forward to the challenge of playing them in the borders, the heartland of rugby in Scotland.
“We were pleased with the result against France and we played some good rugby at times. However we feel that the performance was about a 7 out of 10. Our aim is to improve on the performance and get it as close to a 10 as we can. Scotland will be passionate, proud and physical and so will we, so it should be a really good game.”
Powerful forward Buggea, who can play across the back row, is a former Bablake School pupil. He is joined by scrum half Claxton, a student at Adams Grammar School, that previously produced such stars as Graham Kitchener, and outside back Watkins, from Bromsgrove School, who previously helped develop Matt Mullan and Andy Goode.
Forwards
Josh Buggea (Hartpury College) (Worcester Warriors)
Joel Conlon (Ivybridge Community College) (Exeter Chiefs)
Tom Ellis (Millfield) (Bath Rugby)
Danny Hobbs (Moulton College) (Northampton Saints)
Maro Itoje (Harrow School) (Saracens)
Alex Lundberg (Hampton) (London Wasps)
Reece Marshall (Moulton College) (Northampton Saints)
Ross Moriarty (Hartpury College) (Gloucester)
Jake Oldaker (Wellington College) (Bath Rugby)
Harry Rudkin (Wyggeston & Queen Elizabeth 1st) (Leicester Tigers)
Harry Thacker (Leicester Grammar) (Leicester Tigers)
Steve 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)
Oliver Claxton (Adams Grammar School) (Worcester Warriors)
Nathan Earle (Oaklands) (Saracens)
Zach Kibirige (Yarm School) (Newcastle Falcons)
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)