By Connor Johnson
The international U20 set-up is a pathway for aspiring and promising players who are seen to make a name for themselves on the international stage, representing their countries in the future. One name that is seen as a future superstar in not just English rugby, but world rugby is Saracens winger Noah Caluori, who is set to start for the England under-20s side on Friday night in their Six Nations opener against Wales.
Caluori burst onto the scene as a fresh talent making his Saracens debut aged just 19 years old against Newcastle in 2025. Still, it was his first start that caught the eye of many rugby fans across the country against Sale Sharks, in which he scored five tries in a display of pace and power, with the Sharks’ defenders unable to contain him.
Fast forward four months, and Caluori is being talked about as one of the brightest talents in rugby and even talks of him being selected as part of Scott Borthwick’s England side for their Six Nations campaign, with only 12 Saracens and 4 England Under 20 appearances to his name. When asked about Caluori’s potential and what it’s like to have him in and around the England U20 squad, coach Andy Titterall described him as an “exceptional talent” and had “a lot of enthusiasm, as well as praising the winger for how he applies himself in training.
“I think he’s shown a lot of enthusiasm and came back into the group, which is brilliant, which is exactly where we want him to be; we want him to play for England under 20s. I think it’s part of his development as well, and we’ve had those conversations with Mark (McCall) at Sarries as well as Steve (Borthwick). So I think Noah has been kept in the picture about the path and the progress that he’s likely to make.”
With expectations of being selected into Scott Borthwick’s squad, but not being called up, and also being left out of the England A team for their upcoming fixtures, Titterall explained that it’s natural for people to still be developing and that his time in an England shirt will come.
“He’s had those conversations with Steve and the senior coaches, as I said its been widely articulated to him to support him through this year whatever that may look like, and as I say playing in the under 20s was part of it, whether he plays all of it or some of it depends on what is planned and what is programme looks like but that’s discussed between Steve (Borthwick), Tufty, myself, Michael and Paul.”
If Caluori were to get called up to the England senior squad, he would be following in the footsteps of players who have made that jump from youth level to the professional game, like Henry Pollock, Asher Opoku-Fordjour, with Pollock specially making a rapid rise through the ranks and starting on the bench against Wales at Twickenham on Saturday.
Along with England under-20s having a new head coach in Andy Titterall, they also appointed a new captain in Connor Treacey, who played under former coach Mark Mapeloft in the 2025 championship, but didn’t get a start. Treacey is set to start in the number eight jersey and walk out at his club ground in Bath, and said he’s looking forward to getting out there on Friday night.
“It’s always an honour to represent your country and then go lead them is a bit extra special. So yeah, I’m really excited for that on Friday night. In terms of what I’m going to do, nothing changes for me. I’m just going to play my own game, and hopefully lead by example, lead from the front, and see what happens with the result.”
Both Titterall and Treacey were speaking ahead of England’s under-20 opener against Wales U20 on Friday night at the Rec and hoping to have a better result than what they had last time, going into the game needing a win to secure the championship as well as the grand slam, but came up short.
“This squad of 50 is really competitive, and there are players in the squad that people might go, ‘ Why is he not playing?’. But you know, ultimately we pick the team to go out and be really competitive against Wales, and you know that’s all I want from a group of boys.”
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