Julian Watkins said he was ecstatic after securing a place in England’s Under 16 squad for the Four Nations Tournament.

The 16-year-old from Oxford, who attends Cokethorpe School, near Witney, received his selection letter after a week’s training at Hartpury College.

Watkins, who is a back-row forward, is in a 26-man party for the tournament against Wales, France and Italy in south Wales in April.

He said: “I felt well good, really ecstatic.

“My teachers at school were smiling at me when I arrived on Tuesday.

“Most of them knew I was in, but I didn’t until I read the letter.

“I was hopeful of making it, but I didn’t know what would happen.”

Watkins came through trials at Oxfordshire, South West and national level to be selected despite having to take time out with a foot injury.

Before the tournament, he will attend training camps at Cokethorpe and Hartpury, plus revising for his GCSE exams.

“I’ve got lots of work to do,” said Watkins, who plays club rugby for Henley.

Watkins has had plenty of good input at Cokethorpe, where Gareth Rees is head of rugby.

Rees coached England Under 16s for nine years, while chairman of selectors Lloyd Morgan also coaches at the west Oxon school.

These connections led Watkins to wonder if he had been favoured in selection, but he was assured he had made it on merit.

Sporting talent runs in Watkins’s family with his dad, James, having played football for Portsmouth and Oxford United.

Scrum half Charlie Gordon and lock Vadim Toczylkin, who both attend Wellington College, are the other Oxfordshire representatives in the squad.

Another local player gaining international recognition is London Wasps and Oxfordshire’s Will Jones, who attends Henley College.

Jones has been selected for England’s under 18 squad for the AER (Association Euro-peenne de Rugby) tournament in France.