Chiefs Trio to Start in U20 World Championship Final

Exeter Chiefs trio Ben Coen, Joe Bailey and Kane James will all start for England in the World Rugby U20 Championship Final this Friday. 

Head coach Mark Mapletoft and assistant coach Andy Titterrell have confirmed their matchday 23 to face Les Bleus at the DHL Stadium this Friday evening (18:00 BST kick-off). The fixture will be available to stream live on RugbyPass TV.

Tournament captain and 2024 Under-20 Six Nations winner, Leicester Tigers’ Finn Carnduff, will secure his 20th cap and lead out the U20 Men for the final time this week.

Kane James (Exeter Chiefs) will start at number eight alongside loose forward partners Carnduff and Henry Pollock of Northampton Saints in the only change to the pack from the semi-final win over Ireland.

Versatile back Angus Hall (Saracens) was a late addition to the lineup that defeated Ireland 31-20 and will seek to energise as a replacement this week as Harlequins’ Ben Waghorn will wear the 13 shirt. Bath Rugby’s back-row forward Arthur Green is in line for his second cap at U20 level and takes his place on the replacements bench alongside Hall.

Sean Kerr (Harlequins) contributed 21 points to England’s effort to overcome Willie Faloon’s men and now face another Six Nations opponent, France, in what is their first U20 Championship final since 2018.

Mark Mapletoft said: "The last few days have been a good reminder of the hard work we have all put in to ensuring the development of this group. We are extremely proud to get to the final, but we cannot lose focus of the challenge in front of us.

“Since beating Ireland we have talked about taking even greater ownership. We have shown that in abundance in our last few games and it encapsulates what this squad is about.

"We expect nothing less come Friday. We will approach the game with the same fearlessness and resilience that has been so important to this point. We want to make our family, friends and all England supporters proud.”

England U20

15 Ioan Jones (Gloucester Rugby, Minchinhampton RFC, 8 caps)

14 Ben Redshaw (Newcastle Falcons, West Park Leeds RFC, 8 caps)

13 Ben Waghorn (Harlequins, Chipstead Rugby Club, 9 caps)

12 Sean Kerr (Harlequins, Sutton and Epsom Rugby Club, 7 caps)

11 Alex Wills (Sale Sharks, Droitwich Rugby Club, 11 caps)

10 Ben Coen (Exeter Chiefs, Teignmouth RFC, 4 caps)

9 Ollie Allan (Leicester Tigers, Hungerford RFC, 4 caps)

1 Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks, Broadstreet RFC, 18 caps)

2 Craig Wright (Northampton Saints, Braintree Rugby Club, 9 caps)

3 Afolabi Fasogbon (Gloucester Rugby, Bishop Wand School, 15 caps)

4 Joe Bailey (Exeter Chiefs, Newton Abbot RFC, 8 caps)

5 Junior Kpoku (Racing 92, Saracens Amateurs, 8 caps)

6 Finn Carnduff (c) (Leicester Tigers, Market Harborough RFC, 19 caps)

7 Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints, Buckingham Rugby Club, 8 caps)

8 Kane James (Exeter Chiefs, St Peters RFC, 8 caps)

Replacements

16 James Isaacs (Saracens, Hemel Hempstead Camelot RFC, 5 caps)

17 Cameron Miell (Leicester Tigers, Paul Roos, 2 caps)

18 James Halliwell (Bristol Bears, Thornbury RFC, 11 caps)

19 Olamide Sodeke (Saracens, Blackheath Rugby Club, 8 caps)

20 Arthur Green (Bath Rugby, Frome RFC, 1 cap)

21 Lucas Friday (Harlequins, Bromley RFC, 4 caps)

22 Josh Bellamy (Harlequins, Rosslyn Park, 7 caps)

23 Angus Hall (Saracens, Sevenoaks Rugby Club, 3 caps)