England U20 ring in changes for Australia Clash

England U20 head coach Mark Mapletoft has named his side to face Australia U20 in their final pool match of the World Rugby U20 Championship campaign in South Africa.  

The match kicks off at 14:00 GMT+2 on Tuesday, 4 July at Athlone Sports Stadium, Cape Town and will be streamed on the World Rugby digital channels. ITV will also broadcast highlights from each match day. 

Asher Opoku-Fordjour starts at loosehead prop with Afolabi Fasogbon packing down on the other side of the scrum at tighthead, while Nathan Jibulu will wear the number 2 shirt.  

Leicester Tigers’ Lewis Chessum captains the side from the five jersey and is joined by Finn Carnduff in the second row. 

Behind them in the pack, Nathan Michelow (blind-side flanker), Greg Fisilau (open-side flanker) and Chandler Cunningham-South (no. 8) are confirmed as the backrow.  

Charlie Bracken and Connor Slevin are the side’s starting halves, with Joseph Woodward and Rekeiti Ma’asi-White combining in the midfield.  

The back three sees Cassius Cleaves and Jacob Cusick take their places on the wings and Sam Harris is the fullback.  

Finn Theobald-Thomas, Archie McArthur, James Halliwell, Harvey Cuckson, Tristan Woodman, Nye Thomas, Joe Jenkins and Louie Johnson are the replacements.  

The match against Australia is the third of England’s three pool matches, with a full playing schedule is available on the World Rugby website.  

Mapletoft said: “This is a tough tournament with tight turnarounds and after a particularly physical game against Fiji, I’ve been pleased with the response from the players to make sure they’re ready to face Australia.  

“The Aussies have historically been one of the best performing sides in the tournament, but we came to South Africa wanting to play and beat the best sides, so we’re relishing this opportunity.  

“We’re not thinking about who we’ll face in the tournament’s next stage, we’re solely focused on our next task at hand starting with Australia on Tuesday.”  

England U20: 
15 Sam Harris (Bath Rugby) 
14 Jacob Cusick (Leicester Tigers) 
13 Rekeiti Ma’asi-White (Sale Sharks) 
12 Joseph Woodward (Leicester Tigers) 
11 Cassius Cleaves (Harlequins) 
10 Connor Slevin (Harlequins) 
9 Charlie Bracken (Saracens) 
1 Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks) 
2 Nathan Jibulu (Harlequins) 
3 Afolabi Fasogbon (Gloucester Rugby) 
4 Finn Carnduff (Leicester Tigers) 
5 Lewis Chessum © (Leicester Tigers) 
6 Nathan Michelow (Saracens) 
7 Greg Fisilau (Exeter Chiefs) 
8 Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins) 

Replacements: 
16 Finn Theobald-Thomas (Leicester Tigers) 
17 Archie McArthur (Gloucester Rugby) 
18 James Halliwell (Bristol Bears) 
19 Harvey Cuckson (Bath Rugby) 
20 Tristan Woodman (Sale Sharks) 
21 Nye Thomas (Sale Sharks) 
22 Joe Jenkins (Bristol Bears) 
23 Louie Johnson (Newcastle Falcons)