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England A national rugby union team

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England A
UnionRugby Football Union
Coach(es)Mark Mapletoft
(November 2024)
Captain(s)Fraser Dingwall
(November 2024)
1st kit
2nd kit
First match
England England XV 29–0  Canada
(30 September 1967)
Largest win
England England A 91–5  Portugal XV
(25 February 2024)
Largest defeat
England England Saxons 0–35  Scotland A
(3 February 2012)

England A is England's men's second national rugby union team. The team has previously been known by a number of names, such as England B, Emerging England and, most recently, England Saxons. England A play a key role in the development of emerging talent, allowing players to gain experience in an international environment and to show that they have the ability to perform at Test level for the England first team. England A were unbeaten for 13 games until losing to Ireland A, now known as Ireland Wolfhounds, in the 2009 Churchill Cup Final on 21 June 2009.

England A was one of three sides that regularly competed in the now-defunct annual Churchill Cup competition, the others being the full national teams of Canada and the United States. Since 2006, they have also played two matches, against Ireland Wolfhounds and Italy A, in parallel with the full Six Nations Championship.

Concept

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England's second team was known as England B until 1992, when it was renamed as England A. In 2000, as part of its long-term strategic plan, the RFU re-examined the role of the 'second team' and decided that a change of name was desirable. Several names were considered – e.g. England Aces and England Bloods – before the name England Saxons was chosen from a short-list of possibles. The change of name took effect from mid-May 2006, just before the start of that year's Churchill Cup. They reverted to England A in May 2021.[1]

England A are seen as an integral part of the RFU's development process:[2]

England Saxons is a key part of the development pathway to the senior side...

The future success of rugby in England depends, to a large extent, on the next best 15 players.

England A will give up and coming players a platform to perform in an international environment and to show that they can make the step up when required.

— Andy Robinson (England head coach), 18 May 2006

England A games do not count as full England internationals, regardless of the opposition, as players are not capped. However, the governing body of a lower-tier nation may grant full national caps when its senior side plays the Saxons—for example, USA Rugby awarded official Test caps for the USA team's matches against the Saxons in 2008. If the opposition awards Test caps for a match, it counts fully in Test statistics for the capping nation, though not for England.

Recent results

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The following is a list of England A's recent match results, as well as upcoming scheduled fixtures, during the 12 months up to and including February 2025:

  Win   Draw   Loss   Upcoming

25 February 2024 England A  91–5  Portugal XV Welford Road, Leicester  
13:00 GMT (UTC+0) Try: Blamire 2' m
Pearson 5' m
Barbeary 13' m
Tuima 18' c
Muir 24' c
Murley (3) 28' c, 71' m, 75' m
Hodge 33' c
Ojomoh 40' c
Penalty try 41'
Riley 52' m
Shillcock 57' m
Beard 62' c
Fisilau 67' c
Con: Hodge (5/6) 19', 25', 29', 34', 40+1'
Shillcock (2/5) 63', 68'
 Report Try: Vareiro 59' m
Cards: Vareiro yellow card 18' to 28' 		Referee: Luc Ramos (France)
England A:
Forwards – 1. Baxter 2. Blamire 3. Heyes 4. Tuima 5. Ewels 6. Pearson 7. Pepper 8. Barbeary
Backs – 9. Randall 10. Atkinson 11. Muir 12. Ojomoh 13. Beard 14. Murley 15. Hodge
Substitutes – 16. Riley 17. Haffar 18. Iosefa-Scott 19. Bamber 20. Fisilau 21. Englefield 22. Shillcock 23. Hartley
Portugal XV:
Forwards – 1. Arrojado 2. Vicente 3. Prim 4. Andrade 5. Fernandes 6. Ribeiro 7. F. Almeida 8. Roque
Backs – 9. Pinto 10. Vareiro 11. J. Cortes 12. Nobre 13. Leite 14. Gomes 15. A. Almeida
Substitutes – 16. Da Cunha 17. Rodrigues 18. Turabelidze 19. Batista 20. Cabaco 21. B. Almeida 22. D. Cortes 23. Da Camara
17 November 2024 England A  38–17  Australia A Twickenham Stoop, London  
14:00 GMT (UTC+0) Try: Heyes 6' m
Murley (2) 42' m, 77' c
Langdon 56' c
Fisilau 61' c
Muir 67' c
Con: Atkinson (2/4) 57', 62'
Shillcock (2/2) 68', 78'
 Report Try: Reimer 9' c
Van Nek 65' c
Con: Lynagh (1/1) 10'
McLaughlin-Phillips (1/1) 66'
Pen: Lynagh (1/1) 30'
 Referee: Eoghan Cross (Ireland)
England A:
Forwards – 1. Opoku-Fordjour 2. Oghre 3. Heyes 4. Tizard 5. Clark 6. Pearson 7. Pollock 8. Willis
Backs – 9. Porter 10. Atkinson 11. Ibitoye 12. Dingwall (c) 13. Beard 14. Murley 15. Carpenter
Substitutes – 16. Langdon 17. Iyogun 18. Fasogbon 19. Tuima 20. Fisilau 21. McParland 22. Shillcock 23. Muir
Australia A:
Forwards – 1. Hoopert 2. Nasser 3. De Lutiis 4. Smith 5. Canham 6. Hooper 7. Reimer 8. Brial
Backs – 9. R. Lonergan (c) 10. Lynagh 11. Lancaster 12. Stewart 13. Walton 14. Toole 15. Campbell
Substitutes – 16. L. Lonergan 17. Lambert 18. Van Nek 19. Blyth 20. Scott 21. Fines-Leleiwasa 22. McLaughlin-Phillips 23. Sapsford
23 February 2025 England A  v  Ireland A Ashton Gate, Bristol  
13:00 GMT (UTC+0)

Squad

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On 6 November 2024, a provisional 24-player squad was named ahead of England A's fixture against Australia A, taking place later that month as part of the 2024 autumn internationals.[3]

On 12 November 2024, Arthur Clark, Hugh Tizard and Will Muir were added to the squad, in the lead up the Australia A match on 17 November. They replaced Ted Hill and Tom Roebuck, who withdrew to join up with the England senior squad, while Billy Sela was ruled out because of injury. In addition, a further five-players – Tom Burrow, Charlie Griffin, Tarek Haffar, Angus Hall and Sean Kerr – joined the training squad to support the match week preparations.[4]

On 14 November 2024, Asher Opoku-Fordjour was recalled from the England senior squad, while Rus Tuima was also called up.[5]

Note: Players capped at senior international level are listed in bold.
Caps and clubs correct as of: 14 November 2024.

Player Position Date of birth (age) Caps Club/province
Nathan Jibulu Hooker (2003-01-28) 28 January 2003 (age 21) 0 England Harlequins
Curtis Langdon Hooker (1997-08-03) 3 August 1997 (age 27) 2 England Northampton Saints
Gabriel Oghre Hooker (1998-05-25) 25 May 1998 (age 26) 0 England Bristol Bears
Afolabi Fasogbon Prop (2004-08-24) 24 August 2004 (age 20) 0 England Gloucester
Tarek Haffar Prop (2001-09-13) 13 September 2001 (age 23) 0 England Northampton Saints
Joe Heyes Prop (1999-04-13) 13 April 1999 (age 25) 7 England Leicester Tigers
Emmanuel Iyogun Prop (2000-11-24) 24 November 2000 (age 24) 0 England Northampton Saints
Asher Opoku-Fordjour Prop (2004-07-16) 16 July 2004 (age 20) 0 England Sale Sharks
Joe Batley Lock (1996-06-27) 27 June 1996 (age 28) 0 England Bristol Bears
Tom Burrow Lock (2005-07-27) 27 July 2005 (age 19) 0 England Sale Sharks
Arthur Clark Lock (2001-12-19) 19 December 2001 (age 23) 0 England Gloucester
Hugh Tizard Lock (2000-03-31) 31 March 2000 (age 24) 0 England Saracens
Rus Tuima Lock (2000-05-21) 21 May 2000 (age 24) 0 England Exeter Chiefs
Greg Fisilau Back row (2003-07-09) 9 July 2003 (age 21) 0 England Exeter Chiefs
Tom Pearson Back row (1999-10-26) 26 October 1999 (age 25) 1 England Northampton Saints
Henry Pollock Back row (2005-01-14) 14 January 2005 (age 19) 0 England Northampton Saints
Tom Willis Back row (1999-01-18) 18 January 1999 (age 25) 1 England Saracens
Archie McParland Scrum-half (2005-02-17) 17 February 2005 (age 19) 0 England Northampton Saints
Will Porter Scrum-half (1998-12-14) 14 December 1998 (age 26) 0 England Harlequins
Charlie Atkinson Fly-half (2001-10-06) 6 October 2001 (age 23) 0 England Gloucester
Jamie Shillcock Fly-half (1997-08-01) 1 August 1997 (age 27) 0 England Leicester Tigers
Oscar Beard Centre (2001-11-20) 20 November 2001 (age 23) 0 England Harlequins
Fraser Dingwall (c) Centre (1999-04-07) 7 April 1999 (age 25) 2 England Northampton Saints
Angus Hall Centre (2005-09-17) 17 September 2005 (age 19) 0 England Saracens
Sean Kerr Centre (2004-11-08) 8 November 2004 (age 20) 0 England Harlequins
Max Ojomoh Centre (2000-09-14) 14 September 2000 (age 24) 0 England Bath
Charlie Griffin Wing 2004/2005 (age 18/19/20) 0 England Bath
Gabriel Ibitoye Wing (1998-03-05) 5 March 1998 (age 26) 0 England Bristol Bears
Will Muir Wing (1995-10-30) 30 October 1995 (age 29) 0 England Bath
Cadan Murley Wing (1999-07-31) 31 July 1999 (age 25) 0 England Harlequins
Joe Carpenter Fullback (2001-08-19) 19 August 2001 (age 23) 0 England Sale Sharks

References

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  1. ^ "England Saxons revert to England A". www.bbc.co.uk/sport. BBC Sport. 11 May 2021. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  2. ^ "England A becomes England Saxons". rfu.com. 18 May 2006. Archived from the original on 27 September 2012.
  3. ^ "England A wider squad announced ahead of Australia A fixture". www.englandrugby.com. England Rugby. 6 November 2024. Retrieved 6 November 2024.
  4. ^ "England A squad announcement". www.englandrugby.com. England Rugby. 12 November 2024. Retrieved 12 November 2024.
  5. ^ "England A name team to face Australia A". www.englandrugby.com. England Rugby. 15 November 2024. Retrieved 15 November 2024.
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