England Under-20s head coach Steve Bates has made two changes to his starting XV ahead of his side’s match against Ireland on the final day of the 2018 Under-20s Six Nations.
Bates’ side kept their Championship hopes alive by defeating France 22-6 in Beziers last week, but they will need to better Les Bleus’ result when they face the Irish at Coventry’s Ricoh Arena on Friday night to win the title.
Ben Loader is brought in on the left wing, which has triggered a reshuffle in the backline that sees Jordan Olowofela shift to full-back and James Grayson move to fly-half.
Last week’s No.10 Tom Hardwick, who kicked 17 points against the French, moves to inside centre while Cameron Redpath, scorer of their only try of that game, is the player to drop out.
The only change to the forward pack sees James Scott replace Sam Lewis in the second row, with one alteration on the bench as Joe Heyes comes in for Ehran Painter.
Ben Earl once again captains the side from openside flanker.
Ahead of the game, Bates said: “We had a very good performance in France in many areas but we know we can improve and we’ll be looking to do that on Friday against Ireland.
“We came into this tournament with a very clear objective to improve every game with the aim that we could win the Six Nations and we’ve now got to that point.
“However, we’re just focused now on Ireland and putting in a really strong performance that allows us to win the game and we’ll see where that leaves us at the end of the tournament.” England Under-20s team to face Ireland:
15. Jordan Olowofela (Leicester Tigers) 14. Gabriel Ibitoye (Harlequins) 13. Fraser Dingwall (Northampton Saints) 12. Tom Hardwick (Leicester Tigers) 11. Ben Loader (London Irish) 10. James Grayson (Northampton Saints) 9. Ben White (Leicester Tigers) 1. Toby Trinder (Northampton Saints) 2. Henry Walker (Gloucester Rugby) 3. Marcus Street (Exeter Chiefs) 4. Dino Lamb (Harlequins) 5. James Scott (Worcester Warriors) 6. Josh Basham (London Irish) 7. Ben Earl (capt) (Saracens) 8. Sam Moore (Sale Sharks)
Replacements:
16. Gabriel Oghre (Wasps) 17. Alex Seville (Gloucester Rugby) 18. Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers) 19. Sam Lewis (Leicester Tigers) 20. Ted Hill (Worcester Warriors) 21. Rory Brand (London Irish) 22. Will Butler (Worcester Warriors) 23.Tom Seabrook (Gloucester Rugby)
