Five former North Midlands youth players have been included in the England squad to prepare for this season’s Under-20 Six Nations Championship.
Hooker Beck Cutting, number eight Ted Hill, prop Joe Morris and lock James Scott and centre Will Butler have been called into the elite squad of 32 for training at Bisham Abbey from January 7 to 12.
Cutting, Hill, Scott and Butler are all products of the North MidlandsUnder-16s set-up while Morris, formerly of King Edward’s Aston, represented the county at Under-18 level.
All are now members of the Worcester Warriors Academy and Hill, Cutting and Butler have all played senior rugby in either the European Challenge Cup or Anglo-Welsh Cup this season.
England, whose coaching team includes another former North Midlands Under-18 player, Richard Blaze, will open their campaign in Italy on February 2 before facing Wales at Newcastle on February 9.
They will then play Scotland in Edinburgh on February 23, France in Beziers on March 9 and Ireland at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry on March 16.