The starting XVs for Saturday’s England Students v France Universities fixture, 4pm KO LIVE on NextGenXV, have been confirmed.
Hosted at Coventry RFC’s Butts Park Arena, with tickets still available here, the game sees England chasing a third victory in a row after a 16-15 victory at Kingston Park in 2022, and last year’s 25-21 victory, England’s first in France for 17 years.
The game will be broadcast LIVE here on NextGenXV, through the NextGenXV YouTube Channel and available through the embedded video below.
Darren Fearn’s England 23 consists of 20 players from BUCS Super Rugby, including 4 from Loughborough Uni and 5 from Exeter Uni, plus three from the BUCS Premier North, including two of his Newcastle University players that went all the way to the BUCS Super Rugby promotion/relegation play off against Swansea, Joe Mounsey and Oliver Fletcher.
Three players are retained from last year’s side, skipper Lucas Dorrell of Exeter, who captains the side from the blindside flank, tighthead Callum Hancock of Leeds Beckett, and back three player Josiah Edwards-Giraud from Hartpury College, who starts on the wing.
Meanwhile Jean-Henri Tubert’s France side are drawn from a remarkable 22 different institutions, with only Rafael Cayuela and Aïtor Hourcade hailing from the same University, Pau’s Université Pau Pays de l’Adour. Noa Pommelet captains the side from inside centre, and there is a great story on the bench for France, where replacement hooker Max Bru has flown in at the last minute to take his place on the bench after a late injury in camp.
Team News:
England Students:
15 Iwan Price-Thomas (Bath), 14 Connor Moyse (Nottingham), 13 Charlie McCaig (Exeter), 12 Tommy Mathews (Hartpury College), 11 Max Pepper (Durham), 10 Morgan Meredith (Loughborough), 9 Rhys Price (Hartpury College), 1 Connor Hancock (Leeds Beckett), 2 Oliver Fletcher (Newcastle), 3 Callum Hancock (Leeds Beckett), 4 Jay Ecclesfield (Nottingham Trent), 5 Will Jeanes (Bath), 6 Lucas Dorrell (Exeter, captain), 7 Jack Forsythe (Exeter), 8 Louie Kirkham (Leeds Beckett).
Replacements: 16 Joshua MacAndrew (Exeter), 17 Eric Nixon (Loughborough), 18 Tom Gulley (Exeter), 19 Barnaby Waddell (Cardiff Met), 20 Arthur Green (Durham), 21 Charlie Briers (Loughborough), 22 Joe Mounsey (Newcastle), 23 Josiah Edwards-Giraud (Hartpury College).
France Universities:
15 Antoine Lere, 14 Farell Delourmel, 13 Nathan Van de Ven, 12 Noa Pommelet, 11 Paul Champ, 10 Matteo Arruti, 9 Thibaut Carrie, 1 Pierre Castillon, 2 Julien Ratajczak, 3 Rafael Cayuela, 4 Nathan Huguen, 5 Lilian Rinardo, 6 Antoine Bouthier, 7 David Geneste, 8 Aïtor Hourcade.
Replacements: 16 Max Bru, 17 Louis Mauro, 18 Valentin Tonin, 19 Mathis Grangier, 20 Liam Rimet, 21 Bastien Daguerre, 22 Nils Chalies, 23 Louka Baudet.
