Rising star Henry Pollock named in England U20 Six Nations team to face Ireland

The game kicks off at 7:45pm on Thursday evening. 

UP AND COMING: Northampton's Henry Pollock, who starts for the England U20s in the Six Nations against Ireland, played 20 minutes off the bench against Munster in the Champions Cup. Pic: Billy Stickland, Inpho

Henry Pollock has been named to start for the England U20s in their Six Nations clash with Ireland in Cork on Thursday evening.

Pollock was recently called up to the England senior squad ahead of the Six Nations. The Northampton backrow also played 20 minutes in his side's Champions Cup victory against Munster earlier this month.

Debutant Tom Burrow of Sale Sharks will captain the England side, while Jack Kinder (Leicester Tigers), Nic Allison (Exeter Chiefs), Ralph McEachran (Sale Sharks), Charlie Griffin and Kepu Tuipulotu (both Bath) are also all set to make their bows. 

“As a team, we want to take a relentless approach from minute one and make our mark on the Six Nations once again this year," said England U20 head coach Mark Mapletoft.

“Coming into the tournament as previous winners is a privilege, but the highest level of expectation will come from the players themselves who want to play with freedom and uphold our principles of speed, attachment and space.

“The squad have been working diligently to match our demands of them and are ready for a tough opening challenge in Ireland. We’ve had some exciting matchups in recent times, and we know we’ll have another testing game against Neil’s side this week.”

The game kicks off at 7:45pm at Virgin Media Park. 

England U20 Six Nations team to face Ireland  

Jack Kinder (Leicester Tigers); 14 Jack Bracken (Saracens) 13 Angus Hall (Saracens) 12 Nic Allison (Exeter Chiefs) 11 Charlie Griffin (Bath Rugby); 10 Ben Coen (Exeter Chiefs) 9 Archie McParland (Northampton Saints); 1 Ralph McEachran (Sale Sharks) 2 Kepu Tuipulotu (Bath Rugby) 3 Vilikesa Sela (Bath Rugby); 4 Olamide Sodeke (Saracens) 5 Tom Burrow (c) (Sale Sharks); 6 Junior Kpoku (Racing 92) 7 Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints) 8 Kane James (Exeter Chiefs) 

Replacements: 16 Louie Gulley (Exeter Chief) 17 Oli Scola (Northampton Saints) 18 Tye Raymont (Sale Sharks) 19 Aiden Ainsworth-Cave (Northampton Saints) 20 George Timmins (Bath Rugby) 21 Lucas Friday (Harlequins) 22 Josh Bellamy (Harlequins) 23 Nick Lilley (Exeter Chiefs)