England U/21 for the Grand Slam
Only Ireland in their way
England Under-21 are poised to win the Under-21 Six Nations Championship with a Grand Slam They have played four and won four Just the Irish challenge remains.
Ireland appear to pose no threat After all they have lost three with just a victory over Italy to their credit
Results on the Under-21 Six Nations up till now:
Round 1
England vs Wales, 26-18
France vs Scotland, 37-0
Ireland vs Italy, 34-9
Round 2
England vs Italy, 48-3
France vs Ireland, 29-10
Wales vs Scotland, 34-24
Round 3
England vs Scotland, 49-22
Wales vs Ireland, 14-13
France vs Italy, 51-5
Round 4
England vs France, 30-17
Scotland vs Ireland, 24-21
Wales vs Italy, 36-3
England Under-21 vs Ireland Under-21 at Sixways Stadium, Worcester, on Friday, 17 March 2006
St Patrick's Day or no St Patrick's Day it is hard to see how Ireland can possibly beat the rampant English side England have carried all before them and will go off to the IRB's World Under-21 Championship as the cocks of the north to face the south who are the usual champions
England are unchanged from the team which won convincingly in France last weekend
Coach Jim Mallinder said: “We've decided to stick with the same squad that did so well against France Ireland like to play a lot of rugby They have a big pack and some talented backs who will expose our defence if we let them
“But we won’t be changing our emphasis We've been working on the same things over the last four games and we're trying to make sure that we focus on getting the basics right and doing the simple things well”
Teams:
England Under-21: 15 Mike Brown (Harlequins), 14 Thom Evans (London Wasps), 13 Matt Cornwell (Leicester Tigers) (captain), 12 Anthony Allen (Gloucester), 11 Nick Abendanon (Bath), 10 Toby Flood (Newcastle Falcons), 9 Ben Foden (Sale Sharks), 8 Jordan Crane (Leeds Tykes), 7 Michael Hills (Sale Sharks), 6 James Haskell (London Wasps), 5 Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers), 4 Richard Blaze (Worcester Warriors), 3 David Wilson (Newcastle Falcons), 2 Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), 1 Alex Rogers (Harlequins)
Replacements: 16 Neil Briggs (Sale Sharks), 17 Mark Lambert (Harlequins), 18 Sean Cox (Sale Sharks), 19 Alex Rae (Northampton Saints), 20 Nick Runciman (Worcester Warriors), 21 Ryan Lamb (Gloucester), 22 Topsy Ojo (London Irish)
Ireland Under-21: tbc
Referee: Carlo Damasco (Italy)
Touch judges: Tim Beddow, Paul Dix
Assessor: John Haggart
Wales Under-21 vs France Under-21 at Rodney Parade, Newport on Friday, 17 March 2006
Wales must fancy their chances against France this weekend. After all they gave England a go in their only defeat and that was away. Now they have France at home in what could be the closest of the Under-21 matches in the Six Nations for Under-21s this season.
Duane Goodfield, the Pontypridd and Blues Academy hooker, will captain Wales in the place of Tom Smith who has a knee ligament injury suffered against Italy last Friday that also threatens his chances of making the 26-player squad for the Under-21 World Championship in France in June.
Ben Lewis (Swansea/Ospreys Academy) is called up to start at blindside flank with Adam Powell (Pontypridd / Blues Academy) switching to No.8 in place of Smith.
Lewis is one of three changes to the starting line-up who beat Italy. Jamie Roberts comes in at fullback and Alun Wyn Jones is fit again to reclaim his second row place after being forced to miss the Italian match through an arm infection.
Coach Chris Davey said: "This is the last match for the players to impress before we name the World Cup squad and, as we are up against France at the World Cup, there is a lot riding on this match.
"We are also playing Argentina and Georgia at the World Cup but it would be good if we could strike a psychological blow against France on Friday ahead of the tournament."
Teams:
Wales Under-21: 15 Jamie Roberts (Cardiff/Blues Academy), 14 Aled Brew (Neath/Ospreys Academy), 13 Andrew Bishop (Ospreys), 12 Tom Riley (Pontypridd/Blues Academy), 11 Chris Czekaj (Cardiff Blues), 10 David Flanigan (Pontypridd/Blues Academy), 9 Martin Roberts (Neath/Ospreys Academy), 8 Adam Powell (Pontypridd/Blues Academy), 7 Rhys Shellard (Pontypridd/Blues Academy), 6 Ben Lewis (Swansea/Ospreys Academy), 5 Dominic Day (Carmarthen Quins/Scarlets Academy), 4 Alun Wyn Jones (Swansea/Ospreys Academy), 3 Phil Osborne (Newport), 2 Duane Goodfield (Pontypridd/Blues Academy) (captain), 1 Rhys Gill (Cardiff/Blues Academy)
Replacements: 16 Ed Shervington (Neath), 17 Ian Jones (Llanelli/Llanelli Scarlets), 18 Will Jones (Newport/Dragons Academy), 19 Craig Everett (Worcester Academy), 20 Tom Cheeseman (Bath), 21 Liam Davies (Llanelli/Scarlets Academy), 22 Aled Thomas (Newport/Dragons Academy).
France Under-21 squad: Alexandre Ducasse (Toulouse), Damien Weber (Stade Français), Medhi Merabet (Toulon), Arnaud Héguy (Bayonne), Guilhem Guirado (Perpignan), Denys Drozdz (Brive), Loic Jacquet (Clermont Auvergne), Yohan Carpentier (La Rochelle), Nicolas Bontinck (Bourgoin), Damien Chouly (Brive), Fabien Alexandre (Dax), Fulgence Ouedraogo (Montpellier), Fabien Cibray (Pau), Tomas (Montpellier), JohnWisniewski (Pays d’Aix), Grégory Puyo (Pau), François Trinh Duc (Montpellier), Arnaud Mignardi (Auch), Yann for (Castres), Jacques Boussuge (Montpellier), Thierry Brana (Stade Français), Julien Jeuvrey (Clermont Auvergne)
Referee: David Changleng (Scotland)
Touch judges: Iain Heard, Jim Yuille (both Scotland)
Italy Under-21 vs Scotland Under-21 in Benevento on Friday, 17 March 2006
Italy have made just one change to their team to play Scotland. Back comes their captain Alberto Saccardo into lock at the expense of Franco Rendace.
Scotland coach Iain Paxton has named the same 22 players to face Italy on Friday as the squad who beat Ireland U21 last weekend but Ben Addison has moved from fullback to left wing, James King starts at fullback and Robert Cairns goes to the bench.
The match will be broadcast live on Italian television.
Italy Under-21-squad: Andrea Barbieri (Consiag I Cavalieri Prato), Paolo Buso (Ghial Calvisano), Stefano Canale (Adriatic Lng Rovigo), Nicola Cattina (Ghial Calvisano), Enrico Ceccato I (Marchiol San Marco), Alberto De Marchi (Orved San Donà), Paul Derbyshire (Stade Francais), Marco Filippucci (Benetton Treviso), Andrea Giazzon (Marchiol San Marco), Lorenzo Giovanchelli (Stade Francais), Andrea Michelini (Modena Rugby), Matteop Muccignat (Benetton Treviso), Marco Neethling (Overmach Parma), Enrico Patrizio (Carrera Petrarca Padova), Matteo Pratichetti (Ghial Calvisano), Riccardo Robuschi (Overmach Parma), Alberto Saccardo (Carrera Petrarca Padova, Cap), Fabio Semenzato (Benetton Treviso), Michele Sepe (Hdi Ur Capitolina), Mantvydas Tveraga (Stade Francais), Diego Varani (Futura Park Rugby Roma), Valerio Vicerè (Antares Benevento)
Scotland Under-21: 15 James King (Border Reivers, Melrose), 14 Cameron Johnston (Newcastle Falcons), 13 Ben Cairns Edinburgh Gunners, Currie), 12 Iain Kennedy (Glasgow Warriors, Glasgow Hawks), 11 Ben Addison (Stirling County), 10 Dave Blair (Sale Sharks) (captain), 9 Greig Laidlaw (Jed-Forest), 8 John Beattie (Glasgow Warriors), 7 Alan MacDonald (Edinburgh Gunners), 6 John Barclay (Glasgow Warriors), 5 Ian Nimmo (Leicester Tigers), 4 James Eddie (Glasgow Warriors, Ayr), 3 David Young (Leicester Tigers), 2 Sean Crombie (Aberdeen GSFP), 1 Ryan Grant (The Army)
Replacements: 16 Andrew Reekie (Currie), 17 Kyle Traynor (Edinburgh Gunners, Boroughmuir), 18 Scott Newlands (Heriot’s), 19 Calum Forrester (GHA), 20 Stephen Biggart (Glasgow Hawks), 21 Chris Dunlop (Durham University), 22 Robert Cairns (Boroughmuir)
Referee: Jean-Pierre Mathieu (France)
