Tenth Year of U20 Six Nations
Of the nine already played, England have won five, France two and Ireland and Wales one each.
Italy vs Wales
Wales are the reigning champions after winning last year's Grand Slam. They are away in the first round against Italy. Italy are often competitive up front bur the fact is that they have had the wooden spoon six times in nine tournaments. (Scotland have held it the other three times.)
Wales set out for Milan with only three of last year's champion side- wing Jared Rosser, Pontypridd-born tighthead Keiron Assiratti and Pontypridd-born flank Morgan Sieniawski. That means that there could be as many as 20 new caps on Friday night.
Of last year's time those still eligible but unavailable are Rhun Williams, Rhun Williams, Reuben Morgan-Williams and Shane Lewis-Hughes. In addition two eligible players are with the Welsh Sevens team in Sydney – James Botham and Owen Lane.
Italy have six back from last year's team including the captain, prop Marco Riccioni who was the captain last year as well. The others back again are Roberto dal Zilio, Charly Trussardi, Lorenzo Masselli, Giosuè Zilocchi and Daniele Rimpelli.
A lot may well depend on tight-five battle.
Teams
Italy: 15 Massimo Cioffi (Lazio), 14 Andrea Bronzini (Viadana), 13 Ludovico Vaccari (Capitolina), 12 Marco Zanon (Mogliano), 11 Giovanni D'Onofrio (Benevento), 10 Antonio Rizzi (Mogliano), 9 Charly Trussardi (Clermont Auvergne), 8 Giovanni Licata (Miraglia), 7 Lorenzo Masselli (Lyons), 6 Jacopo Bianchi (Vasari Arezzo), 5 Edoardo Iachizzi (Perpignan), 4 Giordano Baldino (Mogliano), 3 Marco Riccioni(Calvisano) (captain), 2 Massimo Ceciliani (Delebio), 1 Daniele Rimpelli (Calvisano)
Replacements: 16 Alberto Rollero (Lyons), 17 Danilo Fischetti (Capitolina), 18 Giosu Zilocchi (Lyons), 19 Gabriele Venditti (Lazio), 20 Nardo Casolari (Lazio), 21 Emilio Fusco (Aurillac), 22 Michelangelo Biondelli (Rovigo), 23 Roberto dal Zilio (Calvisano)
Wales: 15 Will Talbot-Davies (Newport Gwent Dragons), 14 Jared Rosser (Newport Gwent Dragons), 13 Ioan Nicholas (Scarlets), 12 Kieran Williams (Ospreys), 11 Ryan Conbeer (Scarlets), 10 Ben Jones (Cardiff Blues), 9 Dane Blacker (Cardiff Blues), 8 Morgan Morris (Gloucester), 7 Will Jones (captain) (Ospreys), 6 Morgan Sieniawski (Cardiff Blues), 5 Max Williams (Newport Gwent Dragons), 4 Alex Dombrandt (Cardiff Met), 3 Keiron Assiratti (Cardiff Blues), 2 Ellis Shipp (Newport Gwent Dragons), 1 Rhys Carre (Cardiff Blues)
Replacements: 16 Corrie Tarrant (Cardiff Blues), 17 Steff Thomas (Scarlets), 18 Chris Coleman (Newport Gwent Dragons), 19 Jack Pope (Ospreys), 20 Aled Ward (Cardiff Blues), 21 Declan Smith (Scarlets), 22 Phil Jones (Ospreys), 23 Cameron Lewis (Cardiff Blues)
Date: Friday, 3 February 2017
Kick-off: 19.00
Venue: Stadio Giovanni Mari di Legnano, Parabiago Milan
Referee: Sean Gallagher (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Joy Neville (Ireland), Paul Haycock (Ireland)
Television match official: Brian MacNeice (Ireland)
Scotland vs Ireland
Scotland have eight players back with Under-20 experience, Ireland just two – Johnny McPhillips and Cillian Gallagher.
Teams:
Scotland: 15 Darcy Graham (Hawick), 14 Robbie Nairn (Harlequins), 13 Craig Pringle (Stirling County), 12 Cameron Hutchison (Currie), 11 Ross McCann (Melrose), 10 Josh Henderson (Glasgow Hawks), 9 Andrew Simmers (Heriot’s), 8 Tom Dodd (Worcester Warriors), 7 Matt Fagerson (Glasgow Hawks), 6 Luke Crosbie (Currie), 5 Callum Hunter-Hill(Stirling County) (captain), 4 Alex Craig (Gloucester), 3 Adam Nicol (Stirling County), 2 Fraser Renwick (Hawick), 1 George Thornton (Bishop Burton College)
Replacements: 16 Robbie Smith (Ayr), 17 Daniel Winning (Boroughmuir), 18 Fergus Bradbury (Stirling County), 19 Hamish Bain (Currie), 20 Jamie Ure (Boroughmuir), 21 Bruce Flockhart (Glasgow Hawks), 22 Charlie Shiel (Currie), 23 Stafford McDowall (Ayr)
Coach: Sean Lineen
Ireland: 15 Jack Kelly (Dublin University) (captain), 14 Jordan Larmour (St Mary's), 13 Gavin Mullin (UCD), 12 Ciaran Frawley (UCD), 11 Colm Hogan (Dublin University), 10 Johnny McPhillips (Ballynahinch), 9 Jonny Stewart (Queen's University), 8 Caelan Doris (St Mary's), 7 Paul Boyle (Lansdowne), 6 Cillian Gallagher (Corinthians), 5 Oisin Dowling (Lansdowne), 4 Fineen Wycherley (Young Munster), 3 Peter Cooper (Belfast Harlequins), 2 Tadgh McElroy (Lansdowne), 1 Joey Conway (UL Bohemians)
Replacements: 16 Adam Moloney (Shannon), 17 Rory Mulvihill (UCD), 18 Charlie Connolly (Dublin University), 19 Jack Regan (UCD), 20 Marcus Rea (Queen's University), 21 Jack Lyons (Young Munster), 22 Conor Fitzgerald (Shannon), 23 Tommy O'Brien (UCD)
Coaches: Nigel Carolan, Peter Malone, Conor Twomey
Date: Friday, 3 February 2017
Kick-off: 20.30
Venue: Broadwood Stadium
Referee: Christophe Ridley (England)
Assistant referees: Jack Makepeace (England), Peter Allan (England)
Television match official: David Sainsbury (England)
Timekeeper: John McLaughlin (Scotland)
England vs France
Last year England did not win the Six Nations Under-20 but they did win World Rugby's Under-20 Championship in Manchester.
Emotionally this is the big one when France has to make the trip across La Manche. Physically it will be tough for they are the two teams that have done best at the Under-20 Six Nations.
France come with great expectations, the hope of repeating the Grand Slam of 2014. Five of their players play professional – Top 14 or Pro D2 – in France – Arthur Retière, Alexandre Roumat, Nathan Decron, Théo Millet and Romain Buros.
Ben and Tom Curry in the England side are twins. They are both flanks, went to Oundle and are nephews of John Olver, in his day an England hooker.
Jacob Umaga is the son of Samoan international Mike Umaga and the nephew of All Black great Tana Umaga.
Alexandre Roumat is the son of the great French lock Olivier Roumat.
Teams
England squad: Sam Aspland-Robinson (Harlequins), Jamie Blamire (Newcastle Falcons), Theo Brophy Clews (London Irish), Will Butler (Worcester Warriors), Josh Caulfield (Exeter Chiefs), Justin Clegg (Worcester Warriors), Joe Cokanasiga (London Irish), Ben Curry (Sale Sharks), Tom Curry (Sale Sharks), Ollie Dawe (Bristol), Ben Earl (Saracens), Ted Hill (Worcester Warriors), Gabriel Ibitoye (Harlequins), Nick Isiekwe (Saracens), Ciaran Knight (Gloucester), Curtis Langdon (Sale Sharks), Max Malins (Saracens), Jack Maunder (Exeter Chiefs), Zach Mercer (Bath), Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints), Dominic Morris (Saracens), Joseph Morris (Worcester Warriors), Joe Mullis (Gloucester), Jack Nay (Saracens), Tom Parton (London Irish), Jake Pope (Sale Sharks), Harry Randall (Gloucester), Alex Seville (Gloucester), Jamie Shillcock (Worcester Warriors), Jacob Umaga (Wasps), Max Wright (Yorkshire Carnegie), Zac Xiourouppa (Worcester Warriors).
France: 15 Romain Buros (Pau), 14 Geoffrey Cros (Bordeaux-Bègles), 13 Nathan Decron (Agen), 12 Théo Millet (Stade Français), 11 William Iraguha (Massy Essonne), 10 Thomas Darmon (Montpellier), 9 Arthur Retière (La Rochelle), 8 Julien Ruaud (Clermont), 7 Alexandre Roumat (Biarritz), 6 Selevasio Tolofua (Toulouse), 5 Mickaël Capelli (Grenoble), 4 Florian Verhaeghe (Toulouse), 3 Corentin Chabeaudie (Agen), 2 Florian Dufour (Agen), 1 Mathis Dumain (Bayonne)
Replacements: 16 Léo Aouf (La Rochelle), 17 Etienne Fourcade (Grenoble), 18 Ugo Boniface (Bayonne), 19 Baptiste Pesenti (Pau), 20 Killian Bendjaballah (La Rochelle), 21 Batiste Couilloud (Lyon), 22 Anthony Fuertes (La Rochelle), 23 Théo Dachary (Biarritz)
Coach: Thomas Lièvremont
Date: Saturday, 4 February 2017
Kick-off: 12.00
Venue: Sandy Park, Exeter
Referee: Dan Jones (Wales))
Assistant referees: Gwyn Morris (Wales), Gareth Newman (Wales))
Television match official: Tim Hayes (Wales))
Timekeeper: Eric Bullion (England)
Assessor: John Sheehan (Ireland)
Previous Winners of Under-20 Six Nations
2008: England, Grand Slam
2009: France
2010: Ireland
2011: England, Grand Slam
2012: England
2013: England
2014: France, Grand Slam
2015: England
2016: Wales, Grand Slam
