Back-row forward Josh Basham joined Newcastle Falcons towards the end of the 2018-19 season, combining his professional contract with an economics degree at Durham University. The Buckinghamshire-born forward was a pupil at Wellington College, whom he helped win three Daily Mail Trophy finals. An England Under-18s captain who played for England Under-20s in the 2018 Junior World Championship final against France, Basham is a product of the London Irish academy who missed the 2019 Under-20s Six Nations due to ankle surgery. Basham went to the World Rugby U20 Championship in Argentina in the summer of 2019, but has his tournament cut short by injury.