Mullan wins Saxons start (From Worcester News)

Mullan wins Saxons start

10:39am Thursday 26th January 2012 in Warriors By Tom Guest , @tomguestWN #WENsport

WARRIORS prop Matt Mullan has been named as the starting loosehead for England Saxons’ clash with Ireland Wolfhounds at Exeter on Saturday (5pm).

James Gaskell, 21, captained Sale Sharks last season and leads a side with an average age of just 24 years and four months at Sandy Park.

It includes senior internationals Delon Armitage, Matt Banahan, Ugo Monye, Matt Mullan and Paul Doran-Jones in the starting line-up.

Centre Matt Hopper, half-backs Freddie Burns and Ben Spencer, and number eight Thomas Waldrom feature for the Saxons for the first time with more newcomers on the bench in the shape of hooker Chris Brooker and wing Jonny May.

“It is a new era for us, there’s a lot of youth and energy in this squad and we’ll go into the game with a ‘no fear’ attitude,” said England Saxons coach Jon Callard.

“We want to see the players express themselves and at the same time develop the streak of pragmatism you need to win big games. We’ve seen in Europe the strength of Irish rugby at the moment but the challenge motivates and excites us.”

Saxons: Armitage (London Irish); Monye, Hopper (both Harlequins), Twelvetrees (Leicester Tigers), Banahan (Bath); Burns (Gloucester), Spencer (Saracens); Mullan (Worcester Warriors), Gray (Harlequins), Doran-Jones (Northampton Saints), Garvey (London Irish), Robson (Harlequins), Gaskell (Sale Sharks), Saull (Saracens), Waldrom (Leicester Tigers).

Replacements: Brooker (Harlequins), Harden (Gloucester), Myall (Sale Sharks), Johnson (Exeter Chiefs), Hodgson (London Irish), Lamb (Northampton Saints), May (Gloucester).