Harlequins fly-half Rory Clegg says the prospect of swapping one world class mentor for another was behind his recent switch from Newcastle Falcons.

The 19-year-old number ten has been a keen tutor at the hands of World Cup winner Jonny Wilkinson, which subsequently saw him make 12 Guinness Premiership appearances at Kingston Park last season.

He is the latest in an increasing line of England age group internationals to pitch up at the Stoop with scrum-half Danny Care, full-back Mike Brown and number six Chris Robshaw graduating to team boss Martin Johnson’s senior squad in the last 12 months.

Quins forwards Tom Guest and George Robson have emerged as first team regulars this season under director of rugby Dean Richards, with Guest currently touring north America with the England Saxons.

And it is their example - and the opportunity to work with former All Black playmaker Nick Evans - that Clegg hopes to match when he has the chance to move south this summer.

“What’s been happening at Harlequins in the last couple of years was a very influential part of why I came down,” he said.

“Quins is a great young English team with lots of young players breaking through to the top level and hopefully I can emulate what they’ve done.

“Nick Evans is one of best fly halves in the world. Hopefully I can take a lot in of what he's got to say and learn from him as I’ve done from Jonny Wilkinson at Newcastle.”

Clegg has been on duty with the England U20 squad at the World Championship in Japan, which reached the semi-finals of the competition with a 52-7 triumph over Samoa - featuring a try from Quins centre George Lowe - at the weekend.

But the youngster believes the side need to up its game if they are to make it all the way to the final.

“England need to kick on. We've won comfortably in the group stages, but we're only playing at about 50 per cent of our capacity at the moment,” he added.

“We believe we've got the talent and the depth to take us all the way to the final and hopefully win it.

“The other bonus is that we’ll have plenty of key players back next year, so the future’s looking very bright.”