England U20 Head coach Rob Hunter
England U20 head coach Rob Hunter, pictured above, today announced his revised Under 20 Elite Player Squad for this season’s major tournaments.
Hunter, assisted by Nick Walshe, has made one change to the 32-man group taking part in the U20 6 Nations, kicking off on February 3 against Scotland in Firhill, and in this summer’s IRB Junior World Championship in South Africa. Bath Rugby fly half Tom Heathcote comes into the squad in place Exeter Chiefs No. 10 Henry Slade who is sidelined through injury.
Hunter said: “This year there is huge competition at this age grade and a lot of players getting first team rugby at their clubs, it’s tough to narrow that down and we expect players to continue to push for inclusion.
“Tom has been playing very well for Bath, he has trained with us already this season and deserves his call up. Henry is well on the road to recovery and I’m sure he will be back competing for a place soon. It’s important for us to take each Six Nations game one at a time, we start off by playing Scotland in Scotland and that will be a hard fixture, however we’ve got a good squad who are proud to represent England and I’m confident we can go there and perform.”
The Under 20 squad has a four-day training camp at Surrey Sports Park on January 16 before reassembling on January 30 for the build-up to their opening game of the 6 Nations against Scotland.
England Under 20 Elite Player Squad 2011/2012
Forwards
Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs)*
Nick Auterac (Saracens)
Alec Hepburn (London Wasps)
Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins)
Nathan Morris (London Wasps)
Scott Spurling (Saracens)
Koree Britton (Gloucester Rugby)*
Sam Twomey (Harlequins)*
George Merrick (Harlequins)
Tom Price (Leicester Tigers)
Dom Barrow (Leeds Carnegie)
Ben Nutley (Northampton Saints)
Chris Walker (Leeds Carnegie)
Matt Kvesic (Worcester Warriors)*
Billy Vunipola (London Wasps)
Will Skuse (Bath Rugby)
Jack Clifford (Harlequins)
Backs
Dan Robson (Gloucester Rugby)*
Alex Day (Northampton Saints)
Ben Spencer (Saracens)
Tom Heathcote (Bath Rugby)
George Ford (Leicester Tigers)*
Ryan Mills (Gloucester Rugby)*
Sam Hill (Exeter Chiefs)
Elliot Daly (London Wasps)*
Jamie Elliott (Northampton Saints)*
Mark Jennings (Sale Sharks)
Marland Yarde (London Irish)*
Charlie Walker (Harlequins)
Will Addison (Sale Sharks)
Ben Ransom (Saracens)*
Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs)
* Capped by England at U20 level last season