Warriors duo Miles Benjamin and Matt Cox have been named in the England U20 squad for next month’s IRB Junior World Championship in Wales.
Wing sensation Benjamin, who finished third in the Guinness Premiership try scoring charts, and Cox, who scored on his first team debut against Wasps towards the end of the season, are both part of the 26-man squad.
The side, coached by Nigel Redman and Mark Mapletoft, goes into the tournament following a Grand Slam of victories in this season’s RBS Under-20 Six Nations. The squad will be captained by London Wasps number eight Hugo Ellis and includes 16 players who have appeared in the Guinness Premiership.
England are seeded sixth for the Junior World Championships and play their Pool C games at Newport against Fiji, Canada and Australia on June 6, 10 and 14 respectively.
They are completing their preparations with a training camp in Bristol this week and reassemble in Newport on June 2.
Redman said: “We’re delighted to be able to announce an exciting squad and there was plenty of competition for selection, particularly in the front-row of the scrum and in the back-three.
“We’ve made a lot of progress this season but now all we can do is concentrate on our first game against Fiji and make sure we’re well-prepared.
“We’re enjoying a good training week in Bristol and we meet up again on June 2 when everything will be focused on that first game at Rodney Parade.”
ENGLAND UNDER 20 SQUAD
Forwards: Nathan Catt (Bath Rugby), Calum Clark (Leeds Carnegie), James Clark (London Irish), Alex Corbisiero (London Irish), Matthew Cox (Worcester Warriors), Hugo Ellis (London Wasps), Jon Fisher (London Irish), Scott Freer (Leeds Carnegie), Gregor Gillanders (Leicester Tigers), Joe Gray (Northampton Saints), Scott Hobson (Cornish Pirates), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints)
Billy Moss (Bath Rugby), Ben Thomas (Saracens)
Backs: Miles Benjamin (Worcester Warriors), Noah Cato (Saracens), Luke Eves (Bristol Rugby), Alex Goode (Saracens), Rob Miller (Newcastle Falcons), Mark Odejobi (London Wasps), Charlie Sharples (Gloucester Rugby), Joe Simpson (London Wasps)
Seb Stegmann (Harlequins), Alex Tait (Newcastle Falcons), Jordan Turner-Hall (Harlequins), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Friday, June 6: England v Fiji, Newport, 7pm
Tuesday, June 10: England v Canada, Newport, 5pm
Saturday, June 14: Australia v England, Newport, 3pm
Wednesday, June 18: Match day four
Sunday, June 22: Finals day
* Ryan Powell and Thinus Delport have been named in a 30-man Barbarians squad to take on Belgium, Ireland and England.
Full-back Delport and scrum-half Powell are set for games with Belgium (May 24), Ireland (May 27) before taking on England on June 1.