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England Saxons name Churchill Cup final squad

Article Published: Friday 19 June 2009

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England Saxons Head Coach Stuart Lancaster has named his side to face Ireland A in this Sunday's Churchill Cup final (ko 2.30pm, local time).
 
The squad sees the return of Bath Rugby's Stuart Hooper, who led the Saxons to their 28-20 victory over Argentina Jaguars in their first pool match and Luke Narraway (Gloucester Rugby) will start at No.8 in place of Tom Guest (Harlequins).

Sale Sharks' Neil Briggs and Chris Jones give way on the bench to Joe Ward (London Wasps) and Dean Schofield (Sale Sharks) respectively, who both feature for the first time this tournament after recovering from injury.

And Shane Geraghty (London Irish) has recovered from a groin strain to take his place on the bench.

Said Lancaster: "There have been some difficult selection decisions. I have been delighted with all the players and how they have responded and it says a tremendous amount about the character in the squad.

"For us it's a massive challenge we respect Ireland A with the quality of players and management they have over here. We have some young players and some very experienced Premiership players and our challenge has been to mould then into a team and produce performances we are proud of.

"We have had two tough games which we have leant a lot about the players and ourselves on the journey and I'm sure we will learn a lot more come Sunday.

"But whatever the outcome rest assured they are a committed group of players who will do their best and be proud to represent England in the final."

England Saxons:

15 Nick Abendanon (Bath Rugby)
14 Noah Cato (Saracens)
13 Dominic Waldouck (London Wasps)
12 Brad Barritt (Saracens)
11 Tom Varndell (Leicester Tigers)
10 Stephen Myler (Northampton Saints)
9 Micky Young (Newcastle Falcons)
1 David Flatman (Bath Rugby)
2 Rob Webber (London Wasps)
3 Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers)
4 Stuart Hooper (Bath Rugby)
5 Nick Kennedy (London Irish)
6 Phil Dowson (Newcastle Falcons, captain)
7 Ben Woods (Leicester Tigers)
8 Luke Narraway (Gloucester Rugby)

Replacements:
16 Tom Mercey (Saracens)
17 Joe Ward (London Wasps)
18 Dean Schofield (Sale Sharks)
19 Tom Guest (Harlequins)
20 Joe Simpson (London Wasps)
21 Danny Cipriani (London Wasps)
22 Shane Geraghty (London Irish)

You can watch the Saxons take on Ireland A this Sunday (June 21) live on Sky Sports 2 (kick off 2.30pm local time, 9.30pm UK time).

2009 Churchill Cup fixtures and results

Saturday, June 6
England Saxons 28 - 20 Argentina Jaguars, Infinity Park, Denver

Sunday, June 14
USA 17-56 England Saxons, Infinity Park, Denver

Sunday June 21
Dick's Sporting Goods Park
Churchill Cup finals (12.05pm, 2.30pm, 4.45pm)

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