Phil Vickery was the guest of honour at the capping ceremony for the England Under 20 players this week.

The England captain handed out the awards after finishing training with the senior international side in the Sports Training Village at the University of Bath.

Fifteen players made their Under 20s debuts in last weekend's 28-15 Six Nations win over Wales at Gloucester, where Miles Benjamin (Worcester Warriors), Noah Cato (Saracens) and Luke Eves (Bristol Rugby) scored the tries.

The backs presented with their first caps were Cato, Eves, Greig Tonks (Leicester Tigers), Seb Stegmann (Harlequins), Alex Goode (Saracens), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers), Johnny Arr (Worcester Warriors) and Dan Norton (Gloucester Rugby).

The forwards were Nathan Catt (Bath Rugby), Joe Gray (Northampton Saints), Alex Corbisiero (London Irish), Scott Hobson (Cornish Pirates), Jon Fisher (London Irish), Billy Moss (Bath Rugby) and Tom Sargeant (Harlequins).

The Under 20 squad are training in Italy today ahead of Saturday's international against Italy in Genoa (3pm).

"The capping ceremony is a huge part of our game - I can remember it from when I was in the England set-up as a 16-year-old - and I'm delighted to have been able to make the presentations," said Vickery.

"These guys had a great win over Wales last weekend and I'm sure they can go on to achieve a lot this season and in their future careers.

"Lots of them have already progressed to appearing in the Premiership and they're progressing a lot faster than I was at their age!

"Some of them have been out as opposition for us in training and I can tell you they're not scared at all - they certainly didn't hold anything back against us."

He told the players: "Congratulations on winning your caps. Now it's important for you to keep showing that desire.

"There are players who've won these but who haven't gone on - and not because they weren't good enough. You have to keep on working with that passion to get to the top."

Vickery also endorsed the work being done at this level by National Academy Coaches Nigel Redman and Mark Mapletoft.

When he was at Gloucester the London Wasps prop battled it out against Bath and England lock Redman and then played alongside Kingsholm fly half Mapletoft.

"I'm really impressed with the youth set-up in this country and at this England level they've got two great coaches in Olly' Redman and Mark Mapletoft," said Vickery.

"They're good guys, they've done everything there is to do in the game and it's great to see them passing that all on to the next generation."