Bradford Grammar School's No 8 Jacob Rowan is on his way to England under-16 honours.

The Keighley youngster hopes to follow in the footsteps of current England star Charlie Hodgson, who played for the North of England Schools while he was a pupil at Bradford Grammar.

Rowan has survived the first cut in the selection process by being one of eight North players included in a squad of 40 invited for training at Castlecroft, Wolverhampton next weekend.

Rowan and two of his schoolmates - winger Ariyio Onofowakan from Roundhay and replacement Sam Boot from Ilkley - played for the North in the first Divisional Festival of the season at Castlecroft.

They lost 15-10 to London and South East and 10-5 to the South West but will have a second chance to impress in the second Divisional Festival on Sunday when the North face the Midlands.

England under-16s manager George Squires said: "We were all very impressed by the standard of the boys.

"It was a successful festival and a good chance to assess performance as we near the tests in April."

An extended squad of 70 players will then be named to take part in a training camp at Hartpury College in Gloucester-shire from February 15-19.

England under-16s play Tests against Wales (April 8, Llandovery), Italy (April 15, away) and France (April 30, Toulouse).

England A will face Wales and, along with an England B side, take part in the annual Millfield Festival in Somerset from April 11-16.

Notable other BGS pupils to have played union for the North of England Schools are Richard Midgley, Simon Binns, Rob Ashforth, Tim O'Brien, Robert Anderson, Jonathan Ions, Jonathan Marston and Geoffrey Wappett jnr.

Meanwhile, Prince Henry's Grammar School pupil Scott Freer is through to the final 49 for the England under-18 side.

The Moortown forward has been joined in the training squad by three Leeds Tykes players - Callum Clark (Richmond School), Tom Denton (St Peter's School) and Edward Pickles (Harrogate Grammar School).

They will train at Castlecroft and RAF Cosford from February 3-5 and 16-19,

forming the nucleus of the squads for the AER Championship in Treviso, Italy in April and the Home Unions Tournament in Gloucestershire on April 16-21.