Warriors pair Kai Owen and James Scott have again been named in England’s squad for their third match in this season’s Under-20s Six Nations against Wales at the ZipWorld Stadium in Colwyn Bay on Friday (kick-off 7.05pm).
Loosehead prop Owen made his England age-grade debut in the victory over France at Exeter last week and he has again been named among the replacements along with lock Scott who won his 13th Under-20s cap against France.
Two more Warriors players, blindside flanker Ted Hill and centre Ollie Lawrence, have been released by England as they are likely to feature in Sunday’s Gallagher Premiership match against Leicester Tigers at Sixways.
Hill, who captained England Under-20s against France, and Lawrence both impressed when they came off the bench in Saturday’s Premiership match at Harlequins.
With other players released for club duty this weekend England Head Coach Steve Bates has made seven changes to his side.
“Making so many changes provides a challenge for the coaches but this is where the training we did with the wider squad in December and January pays dividends,” Bates said.
“This is a huge opportunity for those players coming in to show how talented they are and stake a claim for future selection. We had an impressive win against France, and the players that have come in since that victory have trained well and we have confidence in them to build on that win.
“We know Friday is going to be a huge challenge, it is away in Wales and we are expecting a hostile atmosphere but the players should relish that.
“We’d like to see a combination of the two performances we have had in the tournament. We want to see the forward dominance we saw against France, while also playing with the fluidity we had against Ireland and then manage the game appropriately.”
England U20s
15 Josh Hodge (Newcastle Falcons)
14 Ollie Sleightholme (Northampton Saints)
13 Connor Doherty (Sale Sharks)
12 Tom de Glanville (Bath Rugby)
11 Ollie Hassell-Collins (London Irish)
10 Kieran Wilkinson (Sale Sharks)
9 Ollie Fox (Yorkshire Academy)
1 Olly Adkins (Gloucester Rugby)
2 Nic Dolly (Sale Sharks)
3 Alfie Petch (Exeter Chiefs)
4 Joel Kpoku (Saracens)
5 Alex Coles (Northampton Saints)
6 Richard Capstick (Exeter Chiefs)
7 Aaron Hinkley (Gloucester Rugby)
8 Tom Willis (Wasps)
Replacements:
16 Samson Ma’asi (Northampton Saints)
17 Kai Owen (Worcester Warriors)
18 Jack Bartlett (Gloucester Rugby)
19 James Scott (Worcester Warriors)
20 Rusiate Tuima (Exeter Chiefs)
21 Sam Maunder (Exeter Chiefs)
22 Manu Vunipola (Saracens)
23 Jack Reeves (Gloucester Rugby)