England hosted two U18 camps this half term, a Men’s camp at Bisham Abbey and a Women’s camp at Warwick School.
40 players were selected for Jonathan Pendlebury’s Men’s squad, while James Cooper named a 50 player Women’s squad.
The men’s squad sees 20 players that toured South Africa this summer selected again, St Albans and Saracens trio Tayo Adegbemile, Jack Bracken, and Charlie West, along with Saracens teammates Angus Hall (The Judd) and Finn Newton (Haileybury).
Harrow and London South Central due Charlie Griffin and Kepu Tuipulotu, who captained England in South Africa, also return along with clubmate Finlay Wiseman of Hampton School. Bath and Beechen Cliff star Connor Treacey also skippered a game in the summer and returns, so too does back from partners Ronan Daniell of Harlequins and Hurstpierpoint College, Bolton 6th form’s Sale Sharks star Jack Lightbown, and Hartpury College and Gloucester’s Solomon Shand.
Also returning are Sale Sharks half back Dom Hanson (Stockport Grammar) and Ollie Davies, who won the Player of the Tournament at the recent St Joseph’s Festival as he steered Kirkham Grammar School to the title, and Yorkshire Academy’s Mount St Mary’s pivot Louie Platt. Centre Nick Lilley of Exeter Chiefs and Exeter College also returns.
There are four further front row players that featured in South Africa that return, Alfie Longstaff of Yorkshire Academy and Woodhouse Grove, Sam Graham of Newcastle Falcons and Durham, Will Conduit of Midlands West and Stourport High, and Whitgift and Harlequins prop Jamie Miller.
Tom Threlfall of Leicester Tigers and Nottingham High School featured in the U18 Six Nations and was selected to tour South Africa before injury ruled him out, he returns to the squad as does Harlequins and Gordons’ Zuko Robb, who was similarly injured before the South Africa tour.
Robb is joined by two further Quins and Gordon’s teammates, Ollie Streeter and Ben Webb, while Sam Winters is a third Harrow and London South Central player in the squad, clubmate Tyler Offiah of Wellington College joins him as well.
Northampton Saints did not have too much representation in the summer, but have three players in this squad, Bedford duo Ben Agbenu and Jonny Weimann, and Rugby’s Robert Gaffan. Rivals Leicester Tigers see Brooksby Melton College’s Lawrence Adediran selected alongside Threlfall.
In addition to Lilley, Exeter Chiefs have three further players in the squad, all from Truro College, Charlie Evered, Josh Mann, and Josh Pengilly, while Kingswood’s James Linegar is a second Bath player in the squad, the Kingswood man joining Treacey.
City of Oxford College duo George Pearson and Ethan Surrey join Conduit from Midlands Central, while St Mary’s College’s Tom Davis adds to the Sale Sharks contingent. Patrick Hogg joins Sam Graham in representing Newcastle Falcons and Durham, while Archie Hurford is a second Woodhouse Grove player, after Longstaff, and third Yorkshire Academy player, after Platt, named in the squad. Deian Gwynne joins Shand in representing Hartpury College in the squad.
Speaking to the RFU assistant coach Will Parkin, said: “This is the first camp of the season for the boys since returning from the summer series in South Africa. We spoke in the summer about getting better and better and we are looking to continue that focus heading into this weekend, the players have been away over the last two months, finishing the summer with their academies in Rounds 1 and 2 of the Premiership Rugby Academy League and then starting the season playing for their clubs, schools and colleges. Jon [Pendlebury] and I would like to thank their coaches and teachers for their commitment to giving these boys valuable minutes on the pitch.”
“It sees us bringing 40 boys together, of which 14 are new into the pathway off the back of their performances for their respective teams. This is an exciting opportunity for us to see them in a new environment and for the players to have the opportunity to test themselves and develop their ability at a higher level. These next few days will see us continue to focus on our principles of SAS (Speed, Attachment, Space) whilst putting the boys under pressure to develop their fundamental skills, so that they go back to their clubs as ever-improving players.”
“Developing players for England Rugby is something that I am incredibly passionate about. I’m excited about getting the boys together this week for us to continue the work from the summer and to see how much we can enhance our game.”
The England Women’s squad was selected based on training performances in regionalised camps that took place in August and September at Sheffield Hallam Sports Ground, RAF Halton Nuffield Pavilion and Kingswood Upper Sports Field and Pavilion.
Capped internationals involved with the team include European Sevens representative Eryn Sinckler-Bermingham alongside Daisy Aspinall, Lauren Bailey, Natalee Evans, Evie Haskell, Haineala Lutui, Sarah Parry, Heidi Pashaei Tarighoun, Milly Pearce, Kayleigh Priest, Lucie Sams and Lucy Simpson.
Speaking to the RFU, James Cooper said: “These players have gained some valuable experiences in the past few months at Malvern and other sites across the country, with more fixtures for our Centres of Excellence sides only furthering our objectives for the women’s pathway as a whole,” he commented. This weekend is a real opportunity for these players to build their chemistry with one another, we’re privileged to possess a really talented cohort of girls and myself and the coaches are excited to mould this group into one England fans can really shout about.”
“The girls will have a busy schedule where their capabilities as individuals and as a collective will be put to the test throughout, culminating in two on-pitch sessions on Saturday with our final day together this Sunday dedicated towards further education.”
England Men’s U18 Squad:
Lawrence Adediran (Leicester Tigers, Brooksby Melton College)
Tayo Adegbemile (Saracens, St Albans)
Ben Agbenu (Northampton Saints, Bedford)
Jack Bracken (Saracens, St Albans)
Will Conduit (Midlands West, Stourport HS)
Ronan Daniell (Harlequins, Hurstpierpoint College)
Ollie Davies (Sale Sharks, Kirkham GS)
Tom Davis (Sale Sharks, St Mary’s College)
Charlie Evered (Exeter Chiefs, Truro College)
Robert Gaffan (Northampton Saints, Rugby)
Sam Graham (Newcastle Falcons, Durham)
Charlie Griffin (London South Central, Harrow)
Deian Gwynne (Hartpury College)
Angus Hall (Saracens, The Judd)
Dom Hanson (Sale Sharks, Stockport GS)
Patrick Hogg (Newcastle Falcons, Durham)
Archie Hurford (Yorkshire Academy, Woodhouse Grove)
Jack Lightbown (Sale Sharks, Bolton 6th form)
Nick Lilley (Exeter Chiefs, Exeter College)
James Linegar (Bath, Kingswood)
Alfie Longstaff (Yorkshire Academy, Woodhouse Grove)
Josh Mann (Exeter Chiefs, Truro College)
Jamie Miller (Harlequins, Whitgift)
Finn Newton (Saracens, Haileybury)
Tyler Offiah (London South Central, Wellington College)
George Pearson (Midlands Central, City of Oxford College)
Josh Pengilly (Exeter Chiefs, Truro College)
Louie Platt (Yorkshire Academy, Mount St Marys)
Zuko Robb (Harlequins, Gordons)
Solomon Shand (Gloucester, Hartpury College)
Ollie Streeter (Harlequins, Gordon’s)
Ethan Surrey (Midlands Central, City of Oxford College)
Tom Threlfall (Leicester Tigers, Nottingham HS)
Connor Treacey (Bath, Beechen Cliff)
Kepueli Tuipulotu (London South Central, Harrow)
Ben Webb (Harlequins, Gordon’s)
Jonny Weimann (Northampton Saints, Bedford)
Charlie West (Saracens, St Albans)
Sam Winters (London South Central, Harrow)
Finlay Wiseman (London South Central, Hampton)
England Women’s U18 Squad:
Kaya Acton (Yorkshire Academy, Bishop Burton College)
Ashton Adcock (Loughborough Lightning, Loughborough College)
Daisy Aspinall (Gloucester-Hartpury, Hartpury College)
Iley Bailey (Harlequins, Henley College)
Lauren Bailey (Bristol Bears, Hartpury College)
Grace Banks (Sale Sharks, Wigan and Leigh College)
Tamsin Baynes (Loughborough Lightning, Loughborough College)
Alice Bennett (Loughborough Lightning, King’s Peterborough)
Emma Blackburn (Harlequins, Worthing College)
Gabriella Brown (Harlequins, Maidstone GS)
Molly Bunker (Harlequins, Hartpury College)
Bethan Candlin (Yorkshire Academy, Loughborough College)
Emily Chieza (Thames Valley, City of Oxford College)
Jessica Doyle (North East, Sacred Heart 6th Form)
Katherine Dyke (Bristol Bears, Exeter College)
Natalee Evans (Worcester, Hereford 6th Form College)
Mary Flanagan (Bristol Bears, Kings of Wessex)
Zara Green (Harlequins, Newman College)
Evie Haskell (Loughborough Lightning)
Charlotte Heath (Exeter Chiefs, Exeter College)
Amy Henwood (Harlequins, Epsom College)
Lydia Humphries (Sale Sharks, Rainhill 6th Form)
Rebecca Jackson (Gloucester-Hartpury, Hartpury College)
Aisha Jah (Loughborough Lightning, West Notts 6th Form College)
Hayley Jones (Thames Valley, Henley College)
Poppy Love (Thames Valley, Henley College)
Emily Lunn (Harlequins, Henley College)
Haineala Lutui (Worcester, RGS Worcester)
Sophia MacDonald (Harlequins, Cardinal Newman)
Freya McGinlay (Gloucester-Hartpury, Hartpury College)
Poppy Murray (Saracens, Oaklands College)
Maddy Page (Thames Valley, City of Oxford College)
Beth Parker (Loughborough Lightning, Loughborough College)
Sarah Parry (Worcester, Hereford 6th Form College)
Heidi Pashaei Tarighoun (Bristol Bears, SGS Filton College)
Milly Pearce (Thames Valley, City of Oxford College)
Felicity Poole (Harlequins, Worthing College)
Kayleigh Priest (Exeter Chiefs, Exeter College)
Katie Robertson (Harlequins, Worthing College)
Phoenix Robinson (Loughborough Lightning, Loughborough College)
Lucie Sams (Sale Sharks, Carmel College)
Solana Shaw de Leon (Harlequins, Worthing College)
Lucy Simpson (Gloucester-Hartpury, Hartpury College)
Eryn Sinckler-Bermingham (Harlequins, Hartpury College)
Grace Strickland (Saracens, Saffron Walden CHS)
Isabel Trott (Loughborough Lightning, Loughborough College)
Isabel van der Straaten (Saracens)
Catherine Welman (Saracens, St Benedict’s)
Ellie Wilson (Gloucester-Hartpury, Hartpury College)
Ruby Winstanley (Harlequins, Farnborough 6th Form)
