England U18 name new squad of future stars

England Under 18 head coach John Fletcher has started work with the next generation of the game’s international stars.

Fletcher and assistant Peter Walton have put together a 26-man squad for this season’s England age group programme which kicks off against Ireland in December.

They staged their first training camp at Harrow School this month and assemble again at the National Sports Centre at Bisham Abbey in October before playing Ireland away from home on December 30.

England have won three consecutive Grand Slams and 19 of their last 20 internationals at this level since the summer of 2007, a run ended last month by an agonising 23-17 defeat against South Africa in Port Elizabeth. 

And former Newcastle Falcons boss Fletcher will continue to instil the same playing philosophy of attacking with pace and width into his latest crop of teenagers.

“We aspire to play a similar brand of rugby to the last two years, with lots of pace and width and posing as many threats to the opposition as we can in as many areas of the pitch as possible,” Fletcher said.

England U18 head coach John Fletcher

“The evidence from our summer camps with Under 16 and Under 18 players is that the technical and tactical ability continues to improve and that’s to the credit of the regional academies, clubs and schools who do a better job each year.

“We’re continuing to grow our programme with England too – in areas like prehab work, where we look at educating the players more about their bodies, and some of the psychological work we do – and we continue to evolve what we do technically and tactically.

“Our overall philosophy is to have as many attacking options as we can so that when these young players move on with the Under 20, Saxons and senior England teams, and with their clubs, they have a bigger toolkit to use to go out there and win games.”

England welcome back five players – front row forwards Luke Cowan-Dickie (Truro College & Exeter Chiefs), Nathan Morris (Sedbergh & London Wasps) and Kyle Sinckler (Epsom College & Harlequins), lock Dominic Barrow (Prince Henry’s GS & Leeds Carnegie) and wing Mark Jennings (Myerscough College & Sale Sharks) – who appeared in all of their Six Nations games last season.

Five more took part in July’s three-match tour to South Africa in the shape of lock Tom Jubb (Oaklands College & Saracens), Exeter Chiefs midfield backs Jack Arnott and Sam Hill (both Ivybridge College) and Henry Slade (Plymouth College), and wing/full back Anthony Watson (St George’s College, Weybridge & London Irish).

The RFU’s Head of Elite Player Development Stuart Lancaster paid tribute to the work done throughout the country in schools, in colleges running the Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence rugby programme and in the academy system.

Lancaster said: “There is no doubt the quality of players being produced through the academy programme is on the rise and this year’s intake are all great examples of what is being achieved by the educational partnerships that are in place when you look at the balance of players selected from schools and through the AASE programme.

“Everyone is really working hard to maximise the quality of players coming out of the programmes and this group look to have an exciting year ahead of them working with the successful Under 18 management team headed by John Fletcher.”

England Under 18 squad 

Forwards
Dominic Barrow (Prince Henry’s GS & Leeds Carnegie)
Jack Clifford (RGS Guildford & Harlequins)
Luke Cowan-Dickie (Truro College & Exeter Chiefs)
Matt Hankin (Haileybury College & Saracens)
Danny Herriott (Moulton College & Northampton Saints)
Alec Hepburn (Henley College & London Wasps)
Gus Jones (Eton College & London Wasps)
Tom Jubb (Oaklands College & Saracens)
Nathan Morris (Sedbergh & London Wasps)
Tom Price (Wyggeston & Queen Elizabeth I & Leicester Tigers)
George Sandford (St Paul’s Catholic College & London Irish)
Kyle Sinckler (Epsom College & Harlequins)
David Sisi (St Paul’s Catholic College & London Irish)
Tom Smallbone (Harrow & London Irish)
Scott Spurling (Harrow & Saracens) 

Backs
Jack Arnott (Ivybridge College & Exeter Chiefs)
Alex Day (St Joseph’s College & Northampton Saints)
Sam Hill (Ivybridge College & Exeter Chiefs)
Will Hooley (The Leys & Northampton Saints)
Mark Jennings (Myerscough College & Sale Sharks)
James Lightfoot-Brown (St Paul’s Catholic College & London Irish)
Jack Nowell (Truro College & Exeter Chiefs)
Henry Slade (Plymouth College & Exeter Chiefs)
Mitchell Tamiau (Twyford CofE HS & London Wasps)
Anthony Watson (St George’s College & London Irish)
Marcus Webber (Manchester GS & Leeds Carnegie)