April 16, 2007

Leeds Tykes lock Tom Denton has been added to the England squad for the final week of their IRB Under-19 World Championship campaign.

Denton joins the squad in Belfast today and will be involved in this week’s two play-off games.

He replaces Scott Hobson after the Cornish Pirates forward suffered an ankle injury in England’s 34-13 defeat against New Zealand and is returning home.

"Scott’s been an important member of the squad and earned a starting place against New Zealand," said head coach Nigel Redman.

"His ankle injury is responding to treatment but he won’t recover in time to be fit for our final two games, so we’ve decided to call up another second-row forward.

"We’ve had good reports Tom Denton’s progress this season and we’re looking forward to him joining us and taking us forward."

Denton was part of the England Under-18 squad that won last season’s Association of European Rugby (AER) tournament in Italy.

Despite wins over Argentina (17-15) and Samoa (20-12), England can finish no higher than fifth at this year’s World Championship following their defeat at the hands of New Zealand.

They play Argentina again at Belfast Harlequins tomorrow and either France or Samoa on Saturday.

Ends