Lawes, who turned 19 in February, was in the England Under-20 training squad at the start of the season. Unfortunately injury put paid to his chances of playing in the Six Nations Grand Slam. Nevertheless his performances for the Saints - for whom he played three times in the promotion campaign - have earned him selection in the 26-man squad announced today by the RFU.

Gray started all five Six Nations games where his accurate lineout throwing and pace around the pitch caught the eye. He also made his Saints debut this season and played nine times.

The squad, coached by Nigel Redman and Mark Mapletoft, 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 (14)
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 (Bath Rugby)
Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints)
Billy Moss (Bath Rugby)
Ben Thomas (Saracens)

Backs (12)
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

Courtney Lawes and Joe Gray are members of the Saints Senior Academy, sponsored by LIO. Click here to book a place on one of our June Seminars.