England Counties have named their side to face Scottish Clubs at Netherdale tomorrow night kick-off 7:30 pm
Former Cornish All Black, now with Plymouth Albion, prop Christian Judge, a star from Cornwall’s County Championship win last season starts the game at tight-head prop.
Redruth’s Tom Cowan-Dickie is on the bench and looks likely to be involved at some point.
Photos – by Simon Bryant
Top Chris Judge
Bottom Tom Cowan-Dickie
Matt Long, team manager of England Counties XV, has confirmed the side to take on Scotland Club XV tomorrow in Galashiels.
The match day 23 is made up of players from 13 different clubs and 14 counties across the country. England will be hoping for a repeat of last year’s match which they won 37-3.
England Counties is the flagship team of the Community Game in England and offers players from National League One and below the opportunity to represent their country.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing this team play on Friday,” said Long. “It’s made up of quite a few new faces but we’ve been working for months to select the right players and have spent the time we’ve had with them getting them up to speed on how we want to play.”
The team have won their last six games having gone unbeaten in 2015 and will play five matches this season including a three match tour of Canada.
“It was a good match last year and we were really happy with the win,” added Long. “That result will have added fuel to their fire and i’m sure it’s going to be a very physical test for us.”
With so many new faces in the team, Long is looking to captain Keith Laughlin to lead the way. “Given many of the players haven’t met before they joined up with the squad, it’s crucial that senior guys like Keith show them how we do things and how we want to play.”
The match will kick off at 7:30pm tomorrow at Gala Rugby Club, Galashiels. You can keep up to date with the match by following @EnglandRugby on Twitter.
England Counties will play France Fédérale on Friday, 11 March at Blackheath RFC. Kick off is at 7:30pm.
| England Counties XV | Club and County |
|---|---|
| 1 Andrew Brown | Coventry and Derbyshire |
| 2 Matthew Miles | Old Albanians and Hertfordshire |
| 3 Christian Judge | Plymouth Albion and Cornwall |
| 4 Robert Conquest | Darlington Mowden Park and Hertfordshire |
| 5 Ian Kench | Esher and Surrey |
| 6 Keith Laughlin (captain) | Blaydon and Northumberland |
| 7 Harry Bate | Old Albanians and Hertfordshire |
| 8 Christopher Davies | Richmond and Cheshire |
| 9 Sam Stuart | Richmond and Surrey |
| 10 Christopher Johnson | Fylde and Lancashire |
| 11 Leo Fielding | Blackheath and Gloucestershire |
| 12 Christopher May | Old Albanians and Hertfordshire |
| 13 Sebastian Rodwell | London Irish Wild Geese and Gloucestershire |
| 14 James Stokes | Cambridge and Eastern Counties |
| 15 Mike Wilcox | Cinderford and Gloucestershire |
| 16 Tom Cowan-Dickie | Redruth and Cornwall |
| 17 Ollie Mines | Esher and Surrey |
| 18 Trevor Davison | Blaydon and Durham |
| 19 Tom Stradwick | Blackheath and Kent |
| 20 Brett Daynes | Cambridge and East Midlands |
| 21 Jack Walsh | Blackheath and Kent |
| 22 Spencer Sutherland | Esher and Surrey |
| 23 Markus Burcham | Blackheath and Kent |
