England Universities Rugby League Head Coach Adam Houston has named his 26-man squad for the 2025 campaign.
The recruitment process began late last year with a stage of regional games being followed by the annual University Rugby League Origin game in February, with players also being monitored in the weekly BUCS competitions.
England will face GB Teachers and UK Armed Forces in the President’s Cup before the Student RL Four Nations takes place in June.
Houston’s squad sees all of the leading University Rugby League teams represented, with 12 institutions represented overall with players drawn from across the national landscape of the student game.
Amongst Houston’s picks are Ben O’Donnell, Ben Price, Freddie Ziegler, Harry Lowery, Isaac Coleman, Jake Dickinson, Leon Stewart who return from the 2024 campaign whilst Ted Davidson also returns to the squad having last represented England in 2022. However with 18 new faces, the squad still maintains the turnover which is often seen in the student game.
“It has been a challenging selection process with over 200 players putting themselves forward for selection, which saw 120 play at Regional level and that reduced to 40 for the Origin game” noted Houston. “As ever there are always some difficult choices to make but Mark Sloan and I are confident that we have picked the best squad. The feedback received from the Regional and Origin coaches along the selection journey has been valuable and we are very grateful to all those coaches who helped us to get to this point once again. Everyone who has earned selection should be proud of their achievement so far, but of course the hard work does not stop and they now need to show us they have earned the right to wear the England shirt!”
The England squad will come together for the first time this weekend in Nottingham for an overnight camp which will involve testing, training, team building and some social time with further sessions ahead of their games throughout April, May and June, with a further game to be scheduled. The squad will be trimmed to 20 for the Four Nations competition.
England Universities 2025 26-Man Squad:
Alex Ringshall (Loughborough)
Ben Bell-Thorn (Nottingham)
Ben Grindley-Roberts (Leeds Beckett)
Ben O'Donnell (Liverpool John Moores)
Ben Price (Nottingham)
Charlie Yeomans (Newcastle)
Dan Perry (Loughborough)
Danny Salkeld (Teesside)
Deusjes Nzage (Hull)
Elliot Martin (Liverpool John Moores)
Fin Balback (Leeds Beckett)
Freddie Smith (Loughborough)
Freddie Ziegler (Nottingham)
Harry Kirk (York St John)
Harry Lowery (Northumbria)
Isaac Coleman (York)
Jake Dickinson (Northumbria)
James Leach (Northumbria)
Jamie O'Keeffe (Loughborough)
Jayden Crelin (Manchester Metropolitan)
Leon Stewart (Hull)
Mackauley Stephenson (Leeds Beckett)
Oli Winterbottom (Gloucestershire)
Ted Davidson (Loughborough)
Will Lintin (Northumbria)
Waldimar Matahwa (Leeds Beckett)
2025 England Universities Staff:
Adam Houston (Head Coach)
Mark Sloan (Assistant Coach)
Lucy McIntosh (Medical)
Ellie Burt (Medical)
James Strudwick (S&C Coach)
David Butler (Team Manager)
