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Rugby News

Tigers duo in for England XV versus Barbarians

Leicester Tigers duo Will Spencer and Ben White have both been named in England’s XV matchday squad to face a star-studded Barbarians side at Twickenham this Sunday (June 2).

Spencer, who celebrated his 27th birthday on Thursday, is selected by England XV head coach Jim Mallinder as a second row replacement, while Tigers Academy graduate White wears the No21 shirt.

The development scrum-half made more than 20 appearances in Leicester colours in a breakthrough season in 2018/19, including a start in the Heineken Champions Cup away to Racing 92 in December. He also led England U20s to a World Championship final last summer.

Meanwhile, Spencer made 20 appearances for Tigers this season – including 18 starts – after moving to the club from Worcester Warriors. He started for England against the Barbarians in this fixture in 2017.

Mallinder said: “Preparations have gone really well this week. It’s a new group of players and coaches but we have come together and had some really good training days and we are looking forward to the game on Sunday.
 
“We have got real balance in the squad between some experienced Premiership players, some with international caps and a lot of youth that has come through the system and played at England U18 and U20 level, but also have played really well for their clubs."

The Quilter Cup match between England XV and the Barbarians is a 3.30pm kick-off on Sunday, following the women’s fixture at 12.45pm.

Tickets for the Barbarians double-header are available from £20 for adults and £10 junior supporters online at www.englandrugby.com/tickets. There is live coverage on Sky Sports.

England XV: 15 Simon Hammersley, 14 Piers O'Conor, 13 Joe Marchant, 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Josh Bassett, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell; 1 Ross Harrison, 2 Tom Dunn, 3 Ehren Painter, 4 Elliott Stooke, 5 Josh Beaumont (c), 6 Alex Dombrandt, 7 Ben Curry, 8 Teimana Harrison.

Replacements: 16 Tommy Taylor, 17 Beno Obano, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Will Spencer, 20 Tom Ellis, 21 Ben White, 22 Callum Sheedy, 23 Ben Loader.

Barbarians: 15 Charles Piutau, 14 Niyi Adeolokun, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Mark Atkinson, 11 Taqele Naiyaravoro, 10 Colin Slade, 9 Rhys Webb; 1 Joe Marler, 2 Richard Hibbard, 3 John Afoa, 4 James Horwill, 5 Chris Vui, 6 Steven Luatua, 7 Francois Louw, 8 Viliame Mata.

Replacements: 16 David Heffernan, 17 Pierre Schoeman, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Facundo Isa, 20 Liam Messam, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Brock James, 23 Fiipo Nakosi.