Bath Rugby Academy flanker Josh Bayliss will captain England U18 against France this Friday for the opening match of their U18 series in South Africa.

Bayliss, who recently featured in this BRTV video about making the step up from schoolboy rugby to the professional game, leads the U18s for the first of their three-match series. Following the match against France, they will then face South Africa Schools A (16 August) and South Africa Schools (20 August).

England U18 Forwards coach Peter Walton is expecting a physical test from France but says the aim is to develop the squad over the next fortnight.

“France will test our physicality especially through the forwards,” said Walton.

“They’re also pretty unpredictable which makes the game an excellent test for the players, we played them once this year which was our only defeat of the season and the players are keen to change the result.

“The whole tour is about developing the players through the three games and we are focussing on improving our performances from the end of last season.”

Walton says the side will look to cause France as many problems as possible on Friday.

“We play to where the opportunities are on the pitch and expect all of the players to be able to adapt in the game,” he said.

“We will clearly take them on in the forwards and create good momentum to exploit the space and come up with solutions to the problems and score some tries.”

Fixtures:

France U18 (Friday, 12 August) 11am BST

South Africa Schools A (Tuesday, 16 August) 1.30pm BST

South Africa Schools (Saturday, 20 August) 1.15pm BST