THE train-on squads have been confirmed for the 2026 England Universities Student Origin game, which will be played on Saturday week, February 7.
North will meet South at Sheffield Hallam University (2.00pm) for what will be the tenth Origin clash – and places in he England Universities squad for the 2026 campaign are up for grabs.
The North and South pools have emerged from regional trial games played before Christmas (also at Sheffield), when North East beat Yorkshire 24-22, South West toppled South East 30-10 and Midlands lost 20-4 to North West.
Both camps will go into the contest on the back of three consecutive Saturday training sessions.
England Universities manager David Butler said: “The North will have Deusjes Nzage, Leon Stewart, Ben Grindley-Roberts, Charlie Yeomans, James Leach, Jake Dickinson, Will Lintin and Harry Lowery all aiming to make a return for England whilst the South will have Oli Winterbottom, Fin Hay, Jamie O’Keeffe, Noah Tyson and Ben Bell-Thorn bidding for a repeat call up.”
The North’s squad, which includes ten players from high-flying Northumbria and six from Hull, is: Simeon Quarmby, Brogan Turner (both Edge Hill), Ryan Moses, Eddie Nolan, Deusjes Nzage, Jack Smith, Leon Stewart, Henry Watkinson (all Hull), Alfie Mather (Lancaster), Tom Delaney, Samuel Ratcliffe, Benjamin Grindley-Roberts (all Leeds Beckett), Harrison Adams, Mason McMurray, Ollie Skeech (all Liverpool), Josh Barnard, Reece Robinson, George Moffitt (all Liverpool John Moores), Chayse Quigley (Manchester Met), Charlie Yeomans, Josh Shackleton, Mac Walsh (all Newcastle), James Leach, Rob Mensah, Matty Rolls, Joe Bradley, Jake Dickinson, Matthew Handy, Max Hope, William Lintin, Harry Lowery, Isaac Oughton (all Northumbria), Joe Davies (Sheffield Hallam), Hayden Todd (York St John).
Loughborough, with nine men, have most representatives in South’s squad, which comprises: Shay Flanagan (Bath), Calvin Preston (Cambridge), Tom Fleming (Cardiff), Olly Edge (Cardiff Met), Joseph Boone (East Anglia), William Lawes, William Peasey, James Stanton, Oliver McDermott (all Exeter), James Boyles, Joe Capener, Tega Tabiowo, Oli Winterbottom (all Gloucestershire), Robert Williams (London South Bank), Dominic Barnwell, Fin Hay, Finn Dagnall, Henry Lenthall, Max Nissienen-Le, Jamie O’Keeffe, Tom Scholefield, Noah Tyson, Alexander Toritsegbogwa-Edun (all Loughborough), Ben Bell-Thorn, Teddy McCaffery, Oliver Paterson (all Nottingham), Jacob Butler, Jacob Rigby, Ed Stephens, Uchenna Okereke (all Nottingham Trent), Thomas Milton (Oxford), Matthew Noble, Tom Ogg (both Reading), John Davies, Charlie Walker (both St Mary’s).
North have prevailed in eight of the previous nine games, South breaking the sequence with a 26-20 success in 2023.