England announces Under-20 squad for Junior World Championship tournament - Rugby
England Under-20 (U20) Head Coach, Rob Hunter, has announced the 26-member squad that will participate in the 2011 Junior World Championship (JWC) tournament at Italy in June this year. England U20 squad excludes their Six Nations star Jamie Elliott and
Kieran Low.
England U20 team had a good run this year and has won the Six Nations tournament after they defeated their archrivals Ireland in March to clinch the title. The new 26-member squad mostly contains players with a huge amount of previous championships, Aviva
Premiership, and A-League expeirnece.
Included in the squad are Charlie Matthews, Mako Vunipola and Alex Gray from the side that played in last year’s world championship in Argentina.
Rob Hunter has expressed his delight with the team and termed it a mixture of experience and talented youth. He further added that the recent performance of the players in the Six Nations and domestic competition has made the selection more difficult for
him.
Hunter said, “It wasn’t easy to narrow it down, we had a lot of competition, but a lot of the lads played well throughout the 6 Nations and deserve their seat on the plane to Italy.”
Irrespective of the recent success his team has enjoyed, Hunter is adamant they have a tough challenge at hand. He said, “The JWC is a very different competition to the 6 Nations,” he said. “There are a lot of games in a relatively short amount of time.”
Hunter has also praised the performance of Jamie Elliott and Kieran Low even though injuries have denied them a place in the upcoming JWC tournament.
England’s U20 will kick-start their JWC campaign against Ireland U20 at Treviso on June 10. England U20 will play their second match against Scotland at the same venue on June 14. England U20 will then play their last pool match against the South African
U20 at Padova on June 18 later this year.
Semi-finals and finals will be played at Treviso and Padova on June 22 and June 26 respectively.
England Under-20 Squad:
Forwards: Ryan Bower (Leicester Tigers), Koree Britton (Gloucester Rugby), Rob Buchanan (Harlequins), Will Collier (Harlequins), Matt Everard (Leicester Tigers), Alex Gray (Newcastle Falcons), Sam Jones (London Wasps), Matt Kvesic (Worcester Warriors), Charlie
Matthews (Harlequins), Henry Thomas (Sale Sharks), Sam Twomey (Harlequins), Mike Haywood (Northampton Saints), Mako Vunipola (Bristol), Joe Launchbury (London Wasps)
Backs: Chris Cook (Bath), Elliot Daly (London Wasps), Owen Farrell (Saracens), George Ford (Leicester Tigers), Jonathan Joseph (London Irish), Ryan Mills (Gloucester), Ben Ransom (Saracens), Dan Robson (Gloucester), Andy Short (Worcester Warriors), Christian
Wade (London Wasps), Guy Armitage (London Irish), Marland Yarde (London Irish)
Rugby, Rugby 2011, 2011 Junior World Championship, England Under 20, Ireland U20, Treviso, South African U20, Padova, Rob Hunter, Jamie Elliott and Kieran Low, Charlie Matthews, Mako Vunipola, Alex Gray, Live Rugby
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