Worcester centre Andy Higgins has been selected for the England U21s tour of New Zealand.

The 18-year-old centre has recovered from the wrist injury that kept him side-lined for the last few weeks of the season and will leave with England on June 15.

He will take part in the SANZAR World Tournament and will face tough group matches against host nation New Zealand, Samoa and Argentina.

It is further recognition for Higgins who has represented both England U19s and England U21s this season and even received a call-up to train with the full England squad during the Six Nations tournament.

"It'll be a tough competition, but I'm really looking forward to it," said Higgins. "I missed out on games at the U19 World Cup in France in April, so I'm very pleased to have recovered from my injury."

Flanker Simon Daws and centre Mark Eastwood will both remain at Sixways next season.

The youngsters broke into the Worcester first team at the tail end of last season and will be continuing their scholarship schemes combining rugby at Worcester with degrees at University College Worcester.

Worcester's Tony Yapp helped North Midlands II reach the semi-finals of rugby's County Championship Sevens at Twickenham on Saturday.

The side, captained by by Moseley's Andy Binns, beat Cheshire 22-14 to reach the last four but then slumped to a 28-19 defeat by Devon.

Devon had built up a 28-0 lead before the North Midlands side fought back with a late flurry of tries.