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Gillanders on the bench for French test

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Tigers lock Gregor Gillanders has been named among the replacements for England U-19s clash with France in the IRB World Championship this Saturday.

England will secure fifth place in the 12-team tournament if they can beat France at Shaws Bridge (kick-off 3.30pm) having already recorded wins over Argentina (twice) and Samoa and been beaten only by favourites New Zealand.

They played France in a warm-up game at Henley last month, when captain Hugo Ellis scored a hat-trick of tries in a 29-5 victory. But head coach Nigel Redman has told his side to forget about that result when the rematch takes place.

"This is a different game in different circumstances and it starts with the score at 0-0 at 3.30pm tomorrow," said Redman. "The previous game will probably be of more significance to the French than it is to us - we'll have to be very wary of a backlash from them.

"We've got a pack of forwards that will be relatively fresh and that's important going into the final game of the tournament. The temptation in these tournaments, because of the importance of the early games, is to pick your best players in the first three and then you get to the 'money games' and they're knackered and the others feel left out.

"Every player here has had an opportunity and they've all started at least one game. All 26 in the squad have made an important contribution and it means we're going into this game physically and mentally fit. We've only picked up two injuries while we've been here. That's a credit to the players and the way they've looked after themselves and to our medical team and the work they've done."

England U-19 v France (April 21, Shaws Bridge, kick-off 3.30pm)

15 David Smith (Northampton Saints)
14 Noah Cato (Saracens)
13 Alex Tait (Newcastle Falcons)
12 Gareth Griffiths (Bristol Rugby)
11 Miles Benjamin (Worcester Warriors)
10 Adam Greendale (Leeds Tykes & Hymers College)
9 Richard Bolt (Exeter Chiefs)

1 Jack Steadman (Bristol Rugby)
2 Scott Freer (Leeds Tykes)
3 Alex Corbisiero (London Irish)
4 Ben Thomas (Saracens)
5 Matt Cox (Worcester Warriors)
6 Jon Fisher (London Irish & Wellington College)
7 Andy Saull (Saracens & Bancrofts School)
8 Hugo Ellis (captain, London Wasps)

Replacements

Billy Moss (Bath Rugby), Nathan Catt (Bath Rugby), Joe Williams (Cinderford), Gregor Gillanders (Leicester Tigers), Tom Denton (Leeds Tykes), Garth Dew (Sale Sharks), Danny Pointon (Northampton Saints), Joe Simpson (London Wasps), Greg King (Worcester Warriors & Hartpury College), Tom Bedford (Exeter Chiefs), Tom Lozides (Saracens).