Newcastle Falcons pair Ben Redshaw and Jacob Oliver are both named in England Under-20s Elite Player Squad for the 2023-24 season.

The 18-year-old Redshaw (pictured above) has already made his first team debut after featuring against Bedford Blues and Sale Sharks, while fellow 18-year-old Oliver (pictured below) has impressed on dual registration with Tynedale.

They will now form part of a 32-man England Under-20s squad, with head coach Mark Mapletoft assisted by former England hooker Andy Titterrell.

Mapletoft said: “Andy and I have assembled an extremely talented group to take us into this season, we have every confidence in their ability as well as their mindset as a team.

“It’s a pleasure to be heading up the U20s side, I thoroughly enjoyed my time involved with the U18s and rest assured, I will continue to work closely with Jonathan [Pendlebury, England U18 Men’s head coach] and Will [Parkin, England U18 Men’s assistant coach] to ensure a streamlined experience for our boys in the pathway.

“Over the next few months, we will be working towards establishing continuity within our play and link together these very special players to best represent the England shirt in 2024.”

Mapletoft’s men take on a select XV from the Somerset outfit on 6 January 2024 at Dings Crusaders RFC (17:00 GMT kick-off), whilst a meeting with the university side follows a week later at Oxford University (13 January, 14:00 GMT kick-off).

Italy awaits in the opening meeting of the 2024 U20 Six Nations (2 February 2024, 19:15 GMT kick-off), with England hosting both Wales (tickets available here) and Ireland in next year’s competition.

England U20 2023/24 Elite Playing Squad

Ollie Allan (Leicester Tigers)
Joe Bailey (Exeter Chiefs) *
Josh Bellamy (Harlequins)
Jack Bennett (Bath Rugby)
Harry Browne (Harlequins) *
Tom Burrow (Sale Sharks)
Finn Carnduff (Leicester Tigers) *
Zach Carr (Harlequins) *
Toby Cousins (Northampton Saints) *
Afolabi Fasogbon (Gloucester Rugby) *
Will Glister (Northampton Saints)
James Halliwell (Bristol Bears) *
Kane James (Exeter Chiefs)
Ioan Jones (Gloucester Rugby)
Sean Kerr (Harlequins)
Reuben Logan (Northampton Saints)
Archie McParland (Northampton Saints)
Nathan Michelow (Saracens) *
Cameron Miell (Leicester Tigers)
Charlie Myall (Leicester Tigers)
Jacob Oliver (Newcastle Falcons)
Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks) *
Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints)
Ben Redshaw (Newcastle Falcons)
Malelili Satala-Navlivou (Leicester Tigers)
Lucas Schmid (Harlequins)
Billy Sela (Bath Rugby)
Olamide Sodeke (Saracens)
Rory Taylor (Gloucester Rugby)
Ben Waghorn (Harlequins) *
Alex Wills (Sale Sharks) *
Craig Wright (Northampton Saints) *

*denotes a player previously capped at England U20 Men’s level

England U20 U20 Six Nations fixtures

2 February – Italy v England – 19:15 GMT – Venue TBC

9 February – England v Wales – 19:15 GMT – The Recreation Ground

23 February – Scotland v England – 19:15 GMT – Venue TBC

8 March – England v Ireland – 19:15 GMT – Venue TBC

15 March – France v England – 20:00 GMT – Venue TBC