Six Saracens named in England U20s Squad
Six Saracens have been named in the 50-player England U20 Men’s ‘Elite Player Squad’ (EPS) for the 2024/25 season.
Head coach Mark Mapletoft and assistant coach Andy Titterrell, who guided the U20 Men to success in the 2024 U20 Six Nations and World Rugby U20 Championship, return for their respective second and fifth seasons of involvement leading the team which contains Saracens own Charlie Barker, Reggie Hammick, Olamide Sodeke, Charlie West, Jack Bracken and Angus Hall.
The largely refreshed cohort includes 12 previously-capped U20 internationals that achieved the ‘double’ silverware in the respective continental and intercontinental championships. Benjamin Coen and Kane James of Exeter Chiefs, Newcastle Falcons’ Jacob Oliver and Ben Redshaw, Archie McParland and Henry Pollock (both Northampton Saints) and our own Saracens trio of Sodeke, Bracken and Hall.
Mapletoft’s fresh intake includes a further 32 squad members boasting previous pathway caps who have now graduated into the U20 programme, including recent U18 Men’s captain and Premiership Rugby U18 Academy League winner, Connor Treacey. Six new players are welcomed into the England Rugby Men’s Pathway as previously uncapped age-grade players.
Friendly fixtures in preparation for England’s Six Nations title defence will be communicated in due course.