England face Australia at JWC
Miles Benjamin and Calum Clark come back into the England starting line-up for Saturday’s IRB Junior World Championship clash against Australia, a tough assignment for England.
The Pool C decider at Newport is a game England have to win to book a place the semifinals – probably against South Africa.
Worcester wing Benjamin, 20, has scored 15 tries for Worcester and added two more for England against Wales and Fiji this season, while Clark became the youngest forward to appear in the Guinness Premiership when he made his debut against Saracens at the age of 18 years and 112 days.
They come into a team that has seven straight wins behind it after clinching the Under-20 Six Nations Grand Slam and opening the IRB tournament by scoring 15 tries in the victories against Fiji (41-17), and Canada (60-18).
England will have to be at their best against a side including Super 14 stars like Western Force flank David Pocock, Reds flyhalf Quade Cooper and Waratahs centre Robert Thorne.
But coach Nigel Redman is delighted with the ‘exemplary’ attitude of the squad in the build-up to the game.
“It was the toughest selection I’ve ever had to make for an age-group international because the quality across the squad is such that we could quite easily have started with players who are on the bench or even those who didn’t make the final 22,” said Redman.
“Twenty-five of the 26 players in the squad have started in our two games so far against Fiji and Canada which says a great deal about the quality and the competition for places we have.
“we’ve prepared very well, trained with real intensity and the attitude of everyone, even the non-starters, has been exemplary.”
England Under-20: 15 Noah Cato (Saracens), 14 Seb Stegmann (Harlequins), 13 Luke Eves (Bristol), 12 Jordan Turner-Hall (Harlequins), 11 Miles Benjamin (Worcester Warriors), 10 Alex Goode (Saracens), 9 Joe Simpson (London Wasps), 8 Hugo Ellis (London Wasps (captain), 7 Calum Clark (Leeds Carnegie), 6 Jon Fisher (London Irish), 5 Gregor Gillanders (Leicester Tigers), 4 Scott Hobson (Cornish Pirates), 3 Alex Corbisiero (London Irish), 2 Joe Gray (Northampton Saints), 1 Nathan Catt (Bath)
Replacements: 16 Scott Freer (Leeds Carnegie), 17 Billy Moss (Bath), 18 Ben Thomas (Saracens), 19 Matthew Cox (Worcester Warriors), 20 Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers), 21 Rob Miller (Newcastle Falcons), 22 Alex Tait (Newcastle Falcons)
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Touch judges: Taizo Hirabayashi (Japan), Andrew McMenemy (Scotland)
Assessor: Tappe Henning (IRB)/Les Peard (Wales)
