England U20 have named their side to face Italy in Plymouth on Friday night, making one change by brining in Charlie Thacker at inside centre for Max Clark.

Clark’s Bath and former Bryanston School teammate Charlie Ewels retains the captaincy and along with the other thirteen players selected, retains his place after that 21-15 defeat to Wales on Saturday.

Three new faces come onto the bench, Exeter Chiefs’ Sam Skinner and the Wasps duo of Tom West and flying winger Tom Howe, formerly of Shiplake College.

Speaking ahead of the game, Forwards Coach Ian Peel said that the squad were bouncing back from that Welsh defeat, saying:

“The lads have responded very well this week. They were obviously gutted after the Wales result but have taken a lot of learnings from that game and we’re looking to transfer that from training pitch to the game on Friday night.”

“Italy will be big and physical. They’ve got a good driving game, good runners and like to play with pace. It’ll be a tough game.”

The game ought to be a great chance for school players to see a few familiar faces in the form of their recent leavers, with Sky Sports broadcasting the game like at 19.45.

England U20 v Italy U20 – Brickfields, Plymouth, Friday 19.45, Live on Sky Sports

England U20

15 Piers O’Conor (Wasps Rugby)

14 George Perkins (Saracens)

13 Joe Marchant (Harlequins)

12 Charlie Thacker (Leicester Tigers)

11 Howard Packman (Northampton Saints)

10 Rory Jennings (Bath Rugby)

9 Stuart Townsend (Exeter Chiefs)

1 Ellis Genge (Bristol Rugby)

2 Jack Walker (Yorkshire Carnegie)

3 Paul Hill (Yorkshire Carnegie)

4 Kieran Treadwell (Harlequins)

5 Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby, captain)

6 Charlie Beckett (Leicester Tigers)

7 Will Owen (Leicester Tigers)

8 James Chisholm (Harlequins)

Replacements

16 Jake Farnworth (Leicester Tigers)

17 Tom West (Wasps Rugby)

18 Ciaran Parker (Sale Sharks)

19 Joe Batley (Gloucester Rugby)

20 Sam Skinner (Exeter Chiefs)

21 James Mitchell (Sale Sharks)

22 Tom Morton (Sale Sharks)

23 Tom Howe (Wasps Rugby)