England Counties XV will have players from 11 different clubs and 13 counties in their line-up to face France Amateurs in Lille on Friday (March 19, 8pm).

In keeping with a tradition which extends back to the creation of the team in 2002, the squad of 22 will also contain seven players who will be making their Counties XV debuts as they seek to avenge defeat by the Frenchmen when the sides met at Twickenham last year.

That win for France levelled the match statistics at three wins each and one game drawn, the only previous win on French soil coming at Beaune in 2006.

Tynedale's Hamish Smales, who returns to the Counties squad this week, made his debut in that game and scored the crucial try which clinched a 29-16 victory.

Smales was the youngster of the team in Beaune, but in Lille that distinction will go to 22-year-old London Scottish full-back Frankie Neale, who will be hoping to maintain the excellent form that marked his contribution to the recent 29-25 win over the AIB Ireland Clubs XV.

He claimed a hat trick of tries in that encounter as the Counties beat the Irish for the first time to level that series of games.

"Our links with France Amateurs go back to 2003 and during that time some very strong bonds have been forged," says Counties Manager Danny Hodgson: "They share our views on the importance of representative international rugby for players outside the professional elite and have worked hard to develop competition at this level.

"We have just one win in three visits to France and while we are in very positive mood after beating the Ireland Clubs for the first time, we also know that we face a stiff test. Bringing a new group of lads together is very much part of the challenge for our coaches and players, but it is one we have come to relish over the years."

England Counties XV (v France Amateurs in Lille, Friday, 8pm): Robert Anderson (Esher & Hertfordshire), Dan Baines (Macclesfield & Lancashire), Rob Baldwin (Wharfedale & Yorkshire), Graham Barr (London Scottish & Middlesex), Tom Bason (Blackheath), Mark Bedworth (Wharfedale & Durham), James Brown (London Scottish), Gareth Collins (Leicester Lions & Warwickshire), Rory Damant (London Scottish & Surrey), Andrew Fahey (London Scottish), James Fitzpatrick (Blaydon), Nick Flynn (Sedgley Park & Lancashire), Darren Fox (Cambridge), Joe Graham (Tynedale & Cumbria), Matthew Hall (Blaydon & Northumberland), Jonathan Hylton (Esher & Surrey), Daniel Legge (Cambridge & Essex), Frankie Neale (London Scottish & Kent), Matthew Owen (Macclesfield & Cheshire), Tom Richardson (Stourbridge & Berkshire), Hamish Smales (Tynedale & Northumberland), Johnathan Williams (Tynedale & Northumberland).