The ISRFC Lambs have named their side for Wednesday’s second game of their tour of Croatia and Italy.
They kicked off their tour with a stunning 99-0 win over Croatia U19 before heading through Slovakia and into Italy, where they toured Venice yesterday.
Wednesday’s game sees them take on Regionale Veneto U18s, before they then take on Centro Do Formazione on Saturday and Italy U19 B on Tuesday 10th April.
The Lambs have made nine personnel changes from Sunday’s side that beat Croatia. Bedford’s Alfie Orchard again captains the side from outside half, while Felsted’s Tom Walker moves in from full back to scrum half.
Outside of them Stamford’s Byron Van Uden and Royal Hospital School’s Elliot Rayment are promoted from the bench to the centres, with Queen Ethelburga’s Darren Ali-Scott starting on the left wing. Framlingham College’s Tom Watson and Harry Bureau also make their first starts of the tour, on the right wing and at full back reprectively.
Up front four players make their second starts in a row. Framlingham College’s Toby Risebrow keeps his place in the second how alongside King’s Macclesfield’s Owen Jones, who moves from blindside to the second row.
On Sunday Risebrow’s second row partner was Wisbech Grammar’s Bradley Hutler, but for this games Hutler moves from the second row to number 8. Joining him in the back row are Felsted’s Tyler Tomlinson on the openside and Hrrison Stiles at blindside, an incredible fourth Framlingham College player in the starting fifteen.
Vice captain Aiden Ali started at openside on Sunday, the Cheltenham College makes the impressive move from there to loosehead prop. He is joined in the front row by Portsmouth Grammar hooker Joe Martin and Rugby tighthead Samuel Wright.
Speaking ahead of the game, Lambs National Director Alex Laybourne said: “It is another very exciting day for the LAMBS today with a double header of fixtures.”
“The U18s group will be looking to build on the performance against Croatia U19s as they travel to face what will be a very physical and passionate Italian Regional side. The squad are in good spirits with some good R&R and A-Level revision under their belts and I am confident they will take the pitch and produce an even better Fast and Free performance than Sunday.”
Tour Diary
As part of the tour, the Lambs are keeping a player diary for us. The first entry was from Bedford fly half Alfie Orchard, today Wisbech Grammar School’s Jack Trundley takes over:
“On our first game day we started off in the morning with breakfast and a couple of hours of revision before an early lunch ahead of setting off to play Croatia’s U19s.”
“Arriving outside the pitch we saw a large stand and everyone was thrilled, only to find out later that we were playing on the pitch next to the nicer pitch! Putting this to one side everyone got their heads straight and ready for the game which we eventually came out 99-0 winners, this was a great run out for us on our first game on tour and everyone enjoyed the festive Croatian activities after the game, before heading back to the hotel. “
“The next morning we got up early for a day of travelling, leaving Zagreb and heading first to the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana, where we walked around and had lunch before getting back on the bus and finishing our travel to Venice.”
“Sadly on the stop between Ljubljana and Venice John (Petty, Trinity) lost the tour mascot Lambert. We are still to establish where he is, but one thing is for certain – the court will not forget about the Tour Junior’s inability to look after Lambert at the end of tour!“
“Arriving at the hotel we got to our rooms which were slightly surprising to put it one way! The tight five have had an interesting time getting into the small corner showers! Some of the boys then went to the pool enjoying the compulsory swim cap (which suited some tour members better than others!) before we all had dinner and then bed.”
“On Tuesday we woke up for an 8:15 breakfast before we travelled to a local rugby club for a 2 hour training session, which Darren ‘chuckles’ Ali-Scott thoroughly enjoyed.”
‘In the afternoon we walked around Venice for a few hours where many people tried the Italian classic pizza and Alex Liley buying some ‘great’ designer clothes from the local shops. Despite the signs to the famous St Mark’s square, a number of the team were unable to locate the main part of Venice and instead got stranded on the various back streets! We then travelled back to the hotel, where we had dinner again before an early night before the game the next day.”
ISRFC Lambs v Regionale Veneto U18s – Wednesday, 5.30pm (BST), Stadio Mario Battaglini
ISRFC Lambs XV:
15 Harry Bureau (Framlingham College), 14 Tom Watson (Framlingham College), 13 Elliot Rayment (Royal Hosptial School), 12 Byron Van Uden (Stamford), 11 Darren Ali-Scott (Queen Ethelburga’s), 10 Alfie Orchard (Bedford, captain), 9 Tom Walker (Felsted), 1 Aiden Ali (Cheltenham College, vc), 2 Joe Martin (Portsmouth Grammar), 3 Samuel Wright (Rugby), 4 Owen Jones (King’s Macclesfield), 5 Toby Risebrow (Framlingham College), 6 Harrison Stiles (Framlingham College), 7 Tyler Tomlinson (Felsted), 8 Bradley Hutler (Wisbech Grammar).
Replacements: 16 Ollie Brown (Shiplake College), 17 Tom Eyston (Ampleforth College, vc), 18 John Petty (Trinity, vc), 19 Henry Reed-Purvis (Bradford Grammar), 20 William Kay (Stockport Grammar), 21 Alex Liley (St Peter’s, York), 22 Oliver Mann (Wisbech Grammar), 23 Piers Martin (Felsted), 24 Jack Trundley (Wisbech Grammar).
ISRFC Lambs U18 Tour Schedule:
Depart – Friday 30th March
Game 1 – Sunday 1st April – Lambs 99-0 Croatia U19
Game 2 – Wednesday 4th April – v I Dogi Comitato Regionale Veneto U18
Game 3 – Saturday 7th April – v Centro Do Formazione F.R Prato & Milano
Game 4 – Tuesday 10th April – v Italy U19 B
Return – Wednesday 11th April
