Hockley's Steven Jay is one of South Essex's brightest young rugby stars and has been named in an England squad.

The 17-year-old Harlequins scrum-half, formerly of Greensward College, is in the initial 31-strong England under-18 group clubs squad that will travel to France next month.

By the time the teen stars head for the match against Francein Bondoufle on February 28 the squad will have been whittled down to 26.

Until then they will meet fortnightly at RAF Halton and Jay will be looking to impress.

Jay's clubmate James Sacha is also in the squad and delighted Harlequins academy director Tony Russ said: "We've got a lot of players in representative squads and we're really pleased these guys have been picked - it's important to any club."

Published Thursday January 8, 2004

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