By Conor McLarnon
England U20s look to continue their impressive start to their Six Nations campaign as they take on France tomorrow night at the Recreation Ground in Bath.
Mark Mapletoft’s side look to continue their impeccable form that saw them win the Championship while going unbeaten last year.
England dispatched Ireland with relative ease last week in Cork by 19 points to 3, against a side who are tipped as their biggest challengers this campaign.
However, the champions come up against a hungry French side who obliterated the Welsh last week, amassing nine tries in the process.
Team Selection
In light of this, Mapletoft has made amendments to his team selection, which includes the selection of Bath’s George Timmins who earns his first U20 start at blindside flanker.
The decision to hand the 6’3 flanker his debut is telling in terms of what the head coach expects physicality-wise.
Beyond this he has also named the promising young second row Oscar Beckerleg on the bench, another potential debutant, who at 6’8 could be pivotal in the latter stages of such a physically gruelling encounter.
Mapletoft saw the decision as a no-brainer, especially due to Junior Kpoku’s unavailability due to suspension after his red card in the triumph over Ireland.
Oscar Beckerleg
He told The Rugby Paper: “We know Oscar well.
“He’s been, again, part of the England pathway programme, along with Tom, for a couple of years now.
“He’s a second-year second row on that development pathway himself. “We’ve got an extremely competitive group of locks.
“Oskar’s been out injured for a little bit, he’s just got back playing fully now but has had a good warm-up into putting himself available.
“We know Junior’s been banned, so that’s opened up an opportunity for him. He adds that little bit of extra ballast to the work, where he understands the defensive system we operate.”
Sale’s Oscar Hanson is also named on the bench and is expected to make his U20’s international debut.
Mapletoft dived a little deeper into his team selection, discussing a start for Lucas Friday who has come in for Archie McParland after the Northampton Saints nine suffered an injury after 25 minutes in Cork.
He offered an update on the extent of the injury but appeared calm considering the quality Friday possesses.
McParland Update
He said: “Archie’s going to be out for this week and we’ll see where things go.
“He’s gone back to Northampton to get a more detailed assessment on it. It’s such a shame for him. “What we know is we’ve got good quality players in the squad already, with Lucas.
“We know we’ve got a huge amount of growth within these lads.
“Both Lucas and Tom offer plenty of differentials across how teams can choose to play rugby.
“We know we can be able to draw upon their strengths, depending on how we want to approach the game or what the conditions are like or who we’re playing.”
Mapletoft also offered a brief comment on a successive start for up-and-coming Bath winger Charlie Griffin who kept Ireland try less last week, as well as being effective in his kicking game.
He added: “I thought his backfield coverage of cross-field kicks was excellent, particularly in that second half when Ireland had a strong wind behind them. It could have been very easy to have given up multiple 50-22s, and we didn’t.
“He covered those well in terms of his go forward.”
Tom Burrow
Team captain Tom Burrow will lead his side out again on Friday night on only his second cap.
Burrow talked of his pride in being named captain once again and relishes the prospect of leading his side to a successive victory.
He said: “It’s a massive honour. “It’s everything you want to do as a little kid playing rugby. When you watch the older boys play, you watch the first team play, you look at the captain and think, wow, I’d be like that one day.
“I think it’s a great challenge as well, but also a great opportunity for me to play my game and try and lead the boys to another win on Friday.
“As a player, you want to play in the biggest games and the best games available to you.”
Tomorrow’s blockbuster affair could be pivotal to both side’s chances of going on to lift the title in five weeks’ time, and with Mapletoft’s side oozing with confidence, expectations will be high among the team and fans alike.
READ MORE: U20s Six Nations – Battling forwards put England in pole position over Ireland
