Undercard get chance to show their A-game

ENGLAND’S A team today get their first major work-out after being resurrected earlier this year when Australia’s undercard provide the opposition at The Stoop.

- PAUL REES

The sides meet eight days after the Wallabies pipped England at Twickenham in a game where the lead changed hands five times with attack trumping defence.

England A have picked an adventurous back division with six players playing for the most attack minded teams in the Premiership, Bristol, Harlequins, Gloucester and Northampton, while the exception is Sale’s enterprising full-back Joe Carpenter.

Neither country has picked a second side because they both have 30 players involved in the Autumn Nations Series, although England released Sale’s prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour to play at the Stoop having been part of England’s World Rugby Under-20 Championship winning side in the summer.

He will be on the loosehead, the opposite side of the scrum where his club pick him and see the 20year old’s future lying.

“Asher is on a development journey and is a very talented player,” said England A’s head coach, Mark Mapletoft. “He is good not just in the set-piece but around the field. He is a great kid who applies himself very well and it is now about consistent performances. Why not play on both sides of the scrum as an international player?”

The A side is made up of three categories of player. Those, like Opoku-Fordjour and Northampton’s back rower Henry Pollock, who have just stepped up from the Under-20s, players like skipper Fraser Dingwall who have been capped and are looking to get back in to the senior side and those who have stood out in the Premiership, such as Bristol’s two Gabriels, Ibitoye and Oghre, Harlequins scrumhalf Will Porter and Carpenter.

“Guys who have won a few caps have the chance to put their case forward,” said Mapletoft. “It is also an opportunity for regular Premiership players who have not been exposed to international rugby and there are young lads jumping out who may not be regulars yet for their clubs.