Kai Owen starts for England U20s against Italy

Kai Owen will start for England with Ted Hill on the bench as they face Italy on Saturday 8 June in the World Rugby U20 Championship (KO 7.30pm).

England were defeated 42-26 by Ireland in their first game on the tournament and will make ten changes for their Pool B encounter.

Three Pears Warriors Academy prop Owen makes his first start after coming on from the bench in game one while flanker Hill moves onto the bench after starting in the first game.

The match will be streamed live on World Rugby social media channels on Saturday evening.

Coach Steve Bates said: “There are a lot of changes but we’ve picked a team that we know can be really competitive, I want to see the players put in a performance that they are proud of and for everyone to contribute.

“We agonised over the first selection and picking this XV has been equally as tough, but this is a strong team and we expect them to play with belief and confidence and play the sort of rugby we saw at times against Ireland but with a bit more consistency and discipline.”

England U20s 
15 Josh Hodge
14 Tom Seabrook
13 Connor Doherty
12 Fraser Dingwall (c)
11 Arron Reed
10 Tom De Glanville
9 Sam Maunder
1 Kai Owen
2 Will Capon
3 Alfie Petch
4 Richard Capstick
5 Alex Coles
6 Josh Basham
7 Aaron Hinkley
8 Rusiate Tuima

Replacements
16 Nic Dolly
17 James Kenny
18 Joe Heyes
19 Olly Adkins
20 Joel Kpoku
21 Ted Hill
22 Tom Willis
23 Ollie Fox
24 Luke James
25 Cameron Redpath
26 Ollie Sleightholme

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