A NEW-LOOK England Counties U20s get their summer tour under way tonight with a big clash against the Hungarian Barbarians at the Esztergom RCH Stadium in Budapest (6pm BST).
Thirteen new faces are named in the starting line-up, with the two centres, captain Ben Penfold of Eastern Counties and Cameron Hudson of Yorkshire, the only two to have made a previous appearance for the U20s representative side.
They will be in for a big challenge against a Barbarians side made up of senior players from club sides across Hungary, but team manager Peter Vernon has been delighted with how quickly the squad has started to gel.
The tour will conclude on Sunday, with a showpiece clash against Hungary U20s.
“The squad arrived safely and have trained well, having had to adjust our training schedule to the very high temperatures,” he said.
“It has been going well and our coaches Richie Williams and Paul Arnold are happy with how the squad is coming together and the progress in understanding our patterns of play. Everyone looked very good at yesterday evening’s captain’s run.
“We’ve had a warm welcome from the host Union here in Hungary,” Vernon added. “Everyone has settled in well and we are extremely excited and looking forward to tonight’s match.”
Five players in the starting line-up are drawn from reigning U20s county champions Yorkshire, who claimed the title with a 36-3 win over Berkshire at the start of May. The experienced Hudson is joined by the quartet of hooker Will Scholey, tight-head prop Rory Mason, wing Rob Rekis and No 8 Josh Burridge, the captain of the White Rose county.
There are also two players from Cornwall and one each from Dorset & Wiltshire, Berkshire, Sussex, Kent, Surrey, Warwickshire, Eastern Counties and Notts Lincs & Derbyshire (NLD).
England Counties U20s line-up v Hungarian Barbarians:
1 Tommy Phillips (Cornwall)
2 Will Scholey (Yorkshire)
3 Rory Mason (Yorkshire)
4 Todd Prisk (Cornwall)
5 Tom Edwards (Dorset & Wiltshire)
6 Freddie Mills (Berkshire)
7 Jack Thomas (Sussex)
8 Josh Burridge (Yorkshire)
9 Tom Trotter (Kent)
10 Alex Seers (Surrey)
11 James Neal (Warwickshire)
12 Ben Penfold (Eastern Counties, captain)
13 Cameron Hudson (Yorkshire)
14 Rob Rekis (Yorkshire)
15 Jay Heath (Notts, Lincs & Derbyshire)
Replacements:
16 Ali Wade (Surrey)
17 Jack Wilkinson (Lancashire)
18 Nick Cairns (Northumberland)
19 Angus Hodges (Gloucestershire)
20 Mikey McDonald (Surrey)
21 Ellis Rudder (Hampshire)
22 Louis Haddow (Middlesex)

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