Centre Tom Casson has admitted the reason he switched to Harlequins from Saracens last month was to link up with fellow junior England U20s stars Rory Clegg, Joe Marler, Sam Smith and Charlie Matthews.
The 19-year-old bagged the man of the match award as head coach Mark Mapletoft’s men dispatched Scotland 27-6 on Friday night ahead of the senior squad’s 15-15 stalemate at Murrayfield on Saturday.
Casson, who paid tribute to Clegg’s efforts in Friday’s triumph, made the move to west London in February and is keen to establish himself at a club fast becoming famous for producing senior England stars of the future.
“Rory was a big influence. You know exactly what you're going to get from him and having class players like him coming back into the side makes a difference,” he said.
“A lot of us were playing together a couple of years ago, me, 'Foz', Cleggy, Tom Homer, so it's very familiar being together.
“I've moved to Harlequins and a massive reason behind that was the number of young English talent there, all around the same age, in the Academy means they've got it all ready to go forward as a real force. I’m really looking forward to it.”
Leicester Tigers centre Andy Forsyth latched on to Clegg’s clever kick for a debut try to open the scoring, while midfield partner Casson proved a constant thorn in the Scots’ side as England bounced back from a 25-10 defeat to Ireland a fortnight ago.
The World Championships take place in Argentina in June and Clegg, who potted three conversions and two penalties, believes the pair are well on their way to booking their seat on the flight.
“I thought Marcus Watson and Andy Forsyth both played really well. ‘Foz’ came into the side for his first game and I thought he was awesome,” he said.
“He’s put his hand up for a place in the Junior World Championship potentially and done himself loads of favours the way he played.
“It's good to play with two centres like him and Tom Casson. They’ve both got a lot of variety to their games and will be looking to earn a starting place in that World Cup team.”
But first there is the small issue of facing Les Blues in St Nazaire as England look to round off their junior Six Nations campaign in style with the title still on the line.
“We’re all looking forward to going to France now and we’re looking at it as the toughest game of the season. We’ll be fired up.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article