The U20 Six Nations continues on Friday with all three of the round 2 games taking place, they will all take place at Cardiff Arms Park as throughout the tournament.
England, Ireland, and Wales will all be looking to build on victorious starts to the tournament, with Ireland and Wales going head to head after victories over Scotland and Italy respectively on Saturday. England take on Scotland while France, fresh from England’s comeback last time out, will take on Italy.
All games will be able to be viewed on the U20 Six Nations YouTube Channel. Wales v Ireland is also available on BBC iPlayer and RTE.
England v Scotland – 2pm
Last time out England came back brilliantly against France, winning 38-22 having been 19-3 down at half time. They take on Scotland at 2pm on Friday and their team is pretty consistent from the one that took the field against France.
Up front Phil Brantingham, Sam Riley, and Harvey Beaton come in after their brilliant display from the bench against France, Emeka Ilione is the only other change in the pack, the former Rugby School man comes in for Freddie Thomas on the blindside – look out for his matchup against Scotland number 8 Ben Muncaster, the two were at Rugby School together.
The England backline, meanwhile, is unchanged, so expect a few changes early on in the second half of this game. John Stewart, Tarek Haffar, and Luke Green are all in a Matchday squad for the first time this campaign, as is Harry Taylor, as are star half back replacements Raffi Quirke and Charlie Atkinson.
Scotland had a tough outing against Ireland, down to 14 men for much of the game. However they keep things fairly consistent, changing two in the front row with Michael Jones and George Breese coming in, meanwhile in the second row Euan Ferrie comes in for Alex Samuel. The back row sees two changes, in part due to Harri Morris’ red card, with Ollie Leatherbarrow coming in at openside and Rory Jackson at blindside.
Christian Townsend comes in at fly half to link up with Murray Redpath, a partnership both men’s fathers will look at fondly. Gregor and Bryan linked up plenty of times in the same positions for the senior Scotland side. Cammy Scott comes in at inside centre, with Elliot Gourlay moving to full back – Gourlay actually played for England U20 in some of their warm up games for this tournament so will be very familiar with the opposition. Ross McKnight comes in on the right wing for Finlay Callaghan.
Italy v France – 5pm
Italy have changed plenty after their fairly drab defeat to Wales last time out, with Lorenzo Pain coming in at full back, Fabio Schiabel coming in at inside centre with Filippo Drago shifting out one. Leonardo Marin moves from full back to fly half, and Alessandro Garbisi, younger brother of Paolo, comes in at scrum half. Meanwhile up front Muhamed Hasa comes in at tighthead, Riccardo Andreoli makes his first start of the tournament at lock, and Giulio Marucchini will start at blindside.
France too have made changes after that tough comeback from England, with Garcia and Bielle Barrey coming in to the back three, Nelson Epee, unsurprisingly given his electrifying performance against England, retains his place on the left wing. It’s an all new centre pairing as Riguet and Gailleton link up, while at half back there are changes too with Seguela coming at 9 and Retiere at fly half. Up front it is an all new front row of Moukoro, Boudou, and Fakatika, while in the second row Ployet comes in for the injured Brennan. In the back row workhorses Ntamack and Haddad earn a deserved break, while Tixeront moves to 8 with Bochaton and Lachaise coming in on the flanks.
Wales v Ireland – 8pm
Wales are unchanged after that brilliantly dogged performance to beat Italy last time out. St Joseph’s College schoolboy Harri Williams again links up with Sam Costelow in the halfbacks after a brilliant kicking display from Costelow last time out. There are two new faces on the bench though with Thomas coming in to wear the 26 shirt and the much hyped talent that is Christ Tshuinza coming in to wear 20.
Ireland, in contrast, have changed things up after last weeks victory over Scotland. Chris Cosgrave comes in on the left wing for Josh O’Connor, and there are changes at scrum half and fly half as Nathan Doak comes in at 9 and Tim Corkery at 10, two very exciting talents. The pack sees Jack Boyle and Mark Donnelly come in to prop, with Alex Soroka moves from the back row to the second row, with Donnacha Byrne taking his place on the blindside.
