Australian U20s team to play England at Junior World Championships
June 14, 2008 - 1:57pm
Story by: ARU
The Ford Australian U20s have today named their team for their final Pool C match with arch-rivals England at the iRB Junior World Championship in Wales tonight (AEST).
With a semi-final berth assured with a victory over the English, coach Brian Melrose has selected all of his front-line Super 14 players, some of whom were rested for the convincing 53-17 win over Fiji on Tuesday.
Waratahs prop Dan Palmer returns to the front row and will be joined by Ben Daley and James Hanson in what is expected to be a torrid encounter with England.
Sam Wykes and Rob Simmons resume their partnership at lock, while captain David Pocock, Ben Coridas and Ben McCalman form an aggressive back-row.
Queensland Reds Will Genia and Quade Cooper are set continue their fine form in the halves and will be looking to unleash their lethal centres Ben Tapuai and Rob Horne in attack.
Blair Connor and Junior Sovala will again start on the wings and Dane Haylett-Petty, who scored four tries against Canada on Matchday One, returns at fullback.
Starting from the bench are front-rowers Albert Anae and Nathan Charles, while Sam Latinipulu has been called into the squad after Steve Mafi returned to Australia with conjunctivitis.
Also on the bench are Richard Kingi, Seilala Lam and Ratu Nasiganiyavi.
Coach Melrose said England will pose a significant challenge to the young Australian team, but was confident the squad would rise to the occasion.
“England are coming off a good, long preparation, while we have only been together for a few weeks, but we know we have the improvement within us to cause them a few problems,” said Melrose
“Over the past two matches we have been progressively playing better and we’re optimistic that we can again play well and get into the semis.”
The match will be shown on delay on FOX SPORTS 3 at 9am (AEST).
Ford Australian Under 20s v England
Saturday, 14 June 2008
Rodney Parade, Newport, Wales
Kick-off: 14:30 (23:30 Saturday AEST)
Telecast: Sunday 9am (AEST) on FOX SPORTS 3
- Ben Daley
- James Hanson
- Daniel Palmer
- Sam Wykes
- Rob Simmons
- Ben Coridas
- David Pocock (c)
- Ben McCalman
- Will Genia
- Quade Cooper
- Junior Sovala
- Ben Tapuai
- Rob Horne
- Blair Connor
- Dane Haylett-Petty
Reserves
- Nathan Charles
- Albert Anae
- Seilala Lam
- Sam Latinipulu
- Richard Kingi
- Rowan Kellam
- Ratu Nasiganiyavi
The Ford Australian U20s program is proudly supported by the Australian Institute of Sport
