Sarries man to lead young side on Friday

Saracens flanker Ben Earl will captain England in their Under-20s Six Nations opener in Italy on Friday.

Earl is the only Saracens man to feature in the matchday squad for the game, which will take place in Italian town of Gorizia.

“It’s been really difficult to select a XV because we have some very talented young players and several of them have performed very well over the first half of the season,” said coach Steve Bates.

“Choosing the 32-man elite player squad was difficult enough, so narrowing that down has been even tougher.

“We’ve tried to take into consideration the way they have performed in our two camps, which has been first class, as well as the games they’ve played up until Christmas.”

England under-20 XV to face Italy: Parton; Ibitoye, Dingwall, Butler, Loader; Grayson, White; Trinder, Walker, Street; Lamb, Scott; Moore, Earl, Willis.

Replacements: Oghere, Seville, Morris, Lewis, Basham, Brand, Hardwick, Olowofela.