THREE former Hereford schoolboys have proven their rugby talents on the international stage as part of the England squad who were beaten in the World Rugby under-20 Championships final.

Former Bishops pupils James Scott and Aaron Hinkley were joined by Hereford Cathedral scholar Will Butler in the tournament.

Worcester Warriors lock Scott featured in the final but couldn't help their side from suffering a 33-25 defeat to France in the tournament final.

On route to the final England topped their group before going through to the semi-final where they beat South Africa 32-31.

Scott scored a try during England's 35-10 victory over old foes Scotland in their group while their side also beat Italy 45-5 and Argentina 39-18.

Following their final defeat, head coach Steve Bates said: “It’s tough to take when you’ve got a group of players who have worked so hard together and developed so much over the season.

“I thought it was a really good performance. Obviously we had one or two issues in the scrum which the referee penalised us for but I think in all other departments we can take a lot of positives and pride from the way the guys played.

“Our plan was to try and exploit their lack of scoring in the last 20 minutes of the game and we were just not quite close enough to do that, as we scored some good tries in that last quarter.”