England Saxons name side to face USA in Churchill Cup opener
By RFU Press Release
June 2 2011
England Saxons today named the side for their opening Churchill Cup game against the USA at Northampton on Saturday (5pm).
England Saxons today named the side for their opening Churchill Cup game against the USA at Northampton on Saturday (5pm). There are only two survivors from the team that beat Canada 38-18 to claim the trophy in New Jersey last summer with scrum half Micky Young (Newcastle Falcons) in the starting line-up and full back Alex Goode (Saracens) on the bench. But Saxons head coach Stuart Lancaster has an exciting combination of youth and experience to call on. Saracens prop Matt Stevens (32 caps) is the most experienced of six senior internationals while Henry Trinder (Gloucester Rugby) and Tom Johnson (Exeter Chiefs) made try-scoring first apperances for England in the non-cap game won 38-32 by the Barbarians last weekend. Lock Mouritz Botha makes his first Saxons appearance a week after winning the Aviva Premiership title with Saracens while Amlin Challenge Cup winner Rory Clegg (Harlequins) steps up to start at fly half for the first time. England Saxons captain Luke Narraway sits out the Churchill Cup's opening game to receive treatment on a calf injury and Leicester Tigers No.8 Jordan Crane will lead the side in his place. Lancaster said: "We want to make sure win this trophy again and to do so we've got to win some tough games starting off with the USA and Tonga, both of whom are gearing up for the World Cup later this year. "But we've got a good mix of players including seven of those who did well against an experienced Barbarians side at Twickenham and there are more players who've joined us after taking part in big club games at the end of the domestic season. "There's lots at stake for all of them, whether they're pushing for places in this World Cup this year or the next one in 2015, but the most important thing is to get off to a good start against what we're expecting to be a very smart USA side on Saturday." For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.churchillcuprugby.net England Saxons Replacements 16 David Paice (London Irish) 17 Kieran Brookes (Newcastle Falcons) 18 Graham Kitchener (Worcester Warriors) 19 Jamie Gibson (London Irish) 20 Paul Hodgson (London Irish) 21 Alex Goode (Saracens) 22 Charlie Sharples (Gloucester Rugby) |
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Despite having led Ireland to three Triple Crowns and up to third in the IRB world rankings, USA Head Coach Eddie O’Sullivan believes his wealth of experience plays no part in boosting the USA’s chances of success in the Churchill Cup.
Speaking at the opening press conference of the 2011 Churchill Cup at Franklin’s Gardens, O’Sullivan said:
“I don’t think it makes a lot of difference, I just coach the team as I always coach. We make sure we are as prepared as we can be and put together a game plan that is going to work for us against the opposition.
“I suppose having the experience of coaching test rugby is an advantage, but in terms of the American guys, they are all very keen and focused in trying to give the best preparation possible.”
O’Sullivan is expecting a tough challenge against a youthful Saxons team on Saturday and believes controlling the pace of the game is going to be the key to success:
“The Saxons will obviously be a tough game, particularly if they can play the game at a high tempo. So that’s the big challenge for us, to control the pace of the game on Saturday.”
The Eagles are without a number of their first choice players due to long domestic seasons, however O’ Sullivan sees it as a good opportunity to look at some new players:
“The advantage of us missing a few players is that we can now look at some of the guys who wouldn’t be here otherwise. It is a big Churchill Cup for us, it is going to be our main preparation before we hit August for the World Cup so it’s really important in that perspective.”
England Saxons captain Luke Narraway will miss the remainder of this month’s Churchill Cup.
Narraway (Gloucester Rugby) is suffering from lower back soreness and has returned to his club for rehabilitation that will take place in consultation with the England medical team.
He sat out last weekend’s 87-8 win against the USA at Northampton – when Leicester’s Jordan Crane led the team to the biggest win in the tournament’s nine-year history – and will miss Sunday’s match against Tonga at Kingsholm and the Churchill Cup finals day at Worcester on June 18.
“Although the problem should settle down pretty quickly, Luke’s not going to be available for the next two games,” said England Saxons head coach Stuart Lancaster.
“It’s a shame to lose him, as he’s an important part of our squad and has been in good form, but we’re confident we’ve got a good replacement in Jordan Crane, who led the side well against the USA.”
The Saxons have no plans to add a replacement to their Churchill Cup squad at this stage.
Charlie Sharples will wear an England shirt in front of his home fans for the first time this weekend at the end of a breakthrough season for the Gloucester wing.
The 22-year-old extended a prolific scoring streak on his England Saxons debut last weekend, touching down in the record-breaking 87-8 win against the USA.
Eighteen tries in 29 club games this season – 14 in 14 in 2011 – earned him selection for this month’s Churchill Cup and the Saxons now face Tonga at Kingsholm on Sunday (2.30pm) before taking on either Canada, Italy A or Russia at Worcester on the tournament’s June 18 finals day.
The call came the day after Gloucester’s Aviva Premiership semi final defeat at Saracens and helped ease some of the hurt inflicted by that 12-10 defeat at Vicarage Road.
“It was one of my goals this season to break into the first team and I feel like I’ve done that,” said Sharples.
“I’ve played a lot of rugby and ended up being picked up by the Saxons so overall I’m pretty pleased.
“I’ve been able to score some tries and that’s down to Gloucester and the brand of rugby we’ve been playing. It’s allowed me to show what I can do. As a winger, that’s all you can ask for.”
Sharples duly stepped up into a Saxons squad with an average age of 23 years, nine months and was reunited with former England Under 20 colleagues like Jordan Turner-Hall (Harlequins), Alex Goode (Saracens) and his Gloucester housemate Henry Trinder.
“I’d been told I was going well and that I was on their radar by the Saxons, so I knew I was in the mix but it was still a nice surprise and good for me in particular when I got the call the day after we lost to Saracens from Stuart Lancaster,” he added.
“We’d come so close in that game but we knew we’d underperformed and made some basic errors. It’s difficult when you’ve lost by two points and know you could have played better.
“Overall we achieved most of our goals this season, though, we won a trophy in the LV= Cup, finished in the top four and people were writing us off early in the season when we’d had a dodgy spell so we came through that well and proved a few people wrong.
“It was still a tough pill to swallow and now we’ve got to kick on next season, get in the top four and then go on from there. We’re back in the Heineken Cup in a good group.
"Toulouse I’ve never played against and it will be good to have them over here and to go over there and see where we are as a side.”
England Saxons captain Jordan Crane is backing Exeter’s Tom Johnson to continue his climb up the international ranks.
A superb first season in the Aviva Premiership with the Chiefs saw Johnson called up to face the Barbarians at Twickenham, where the flanker scored on his first appearance in an England shirt.
He switched to the open side last weekend and scored again in the Churchill Cup record breaking 87-8 win against the USA for the Saxons. Tonga are next up for Johnson and his teammates at Kingsholm on Sunday (2.30pm).
“Tom Johnson’s been a real surprise package – a bit like Exeter Chiefs this season,” said Crane.
“Watching him play against the Barbarians and then playing well again last weekend, he’s had two great games. He’s made the step up easily.
“Long may it continue and surely if he keeps playing as well as he did last week he’s going to be asking questions of the people above him too, so I think he fits in great. He’s definitely one to watch over the next couple of years.”
Crane will lead the Saxons for the second weekend after Kingsholm favourite Luke Narraway was ruled out of the remainder of the tournament by a sore back.
They face a stiff task against the Tongans, who beat the USA 44-13 this week and peak in World Cup years, running both England and South Africa close in 2007.
“We know Tonga will be a big physical battle and we need to be more physical than we were against the USA,” said Crane.
“We let them come at us and that was the only disappointing thing that came out of the game. We’ll look to up that against Tonga and put in a performance that takes us through to the final.”
Win that battle up front and Crane believes the Saxons have the potential to cut loose once more.
“Our back line was pretty good on the weekend and it’s exciting for Englsh rugby to see the guys coming through,” he said.
“Alex Goode, Henry Trinder, Billy Twelvetrees, Rory Clegg – they’re just really good players who all had great games.
“It’s exciting for England to have these guys coming through the system and I hope we can give them all as much experience as possible to make the step up.”