England have made a late change to their U20 squad for the 2017 World Rugby U20 Championships, kicking off on the 31^st May in Georgia.

Leicester Tigers’ Will Evans, part of last year’s title winning side, has had to withdraw due to illness and will be replaced by Harlequins’ Dino Lamb-Cona, who won the 2016 HSBC Rosslyn Park National School 7s title with Cranleigh School, who have since gone on to repeat that triumph and backed it up with victory over Brighton College at Twickenham Stadium during the London 7s on Sunday.

England U20 Head Coach Ian Vass paid tribute to Evans when speaking to www.englandrugby.com but also spoke of the opportunity for Lamb-Cona, saying:

“It’s a shame to lose Will at this early stage however this is a fantastic opportunity for Dino.”

The squad are currently in a training camp before departing for Georgia, with Louis Deacon and Tom Williams joining Vass to form the same coaching triumvirate that helped England to the U20 6 Nations Grand Slam earlier in the year. Commenting on the camp, Vass said:

“We are pleased with how the training camp went last week and the players are hugely excited by what is ahead.”

England are drawn in Pool A as champion, with Wales, Samoa, and Australia all joining them, their games against all three will be shown live on www.worldrugby.org, with the semi finals and finals shown on ITV 4, who will also have highlights of all fixtures.

England U20 Squad:

Forwards

Ralph Adams-Hale (Saracens), Josh Bayliss (Bath Rugby), Jamie Blamire (Newcastle Falcons), Josh Caulfield (Exeter Chiefs), Justin Clegg (Worcester Warriors), Max Davies (Newcastle Falcons), Ollie Dawe (Bristol Rugby), Ben Earl (Saracens), Ciaran Knight (Gloucester Rugby), Dino Lamb (Harlequins), Zach Mercer (Bath Rugby), Joe Mullis (Gloucester Rugby), Jack Nay (Saracens), Alex Seville (Gloucester Rugby), Marcus Street (Exeter Chiefs), Henry Walker (Gloucester Rugby).

Backs

Sam Aspland-Robinson (Harlequins), Theo Brophy Clews (London Irish), Will Butler (Worcester Warriors), Ali Crossdale (Saracens), Gabriel Ibitoye (Harlequins), Max Malins (Saracens), Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints), Dominic Morris (Saracens), Tom Parton (London Irish), Harry Randall (Gloucester Rugby), Jacob Umaga (Wasps), Max Wright (Yorkshire Carnegie).

England U20 World Championship fixtures:

England v Samoa: Wednesday 31^st May – Avchala Stadium (10am KO BST)

England v Wales: Sunday 4^th June – Avchala Stadium (5pm KO BST)

England v Australia: Thursday 8^th June –  Avchala Stadium (5pm KO BST)

Semi-final Fixtures (Tuesday 13^th June)

Final Fixtures (Sunday 18^th June)