Three Rebel Sport Super 14 players have been included in the New Zealand Under 20 side set to compete at the inaugural IRB Junior World Championship, which will take place in Wales in June.

Wing Sean Maitland, loose forward Nasi Manu and wing Kade Poki are all current Crusaders players and were also members of the 2007 New Zealand Under 19 team which won the IRB Under 19 World Championship.

Several other members of last year’s world champion team have been selected for the Under 20 side and New Zealand co-coach Russell Hilton-Jones said the selection process had been thorough.

“Since we first identified a wider squad for trials in December and again this month, a group of respected former rugby players and other specialist resource coaches have done extensive work on analysing each player’s ability and skill," he said.

"We have a group of talented young individuals who have done a tremendous job in getting themselves in contention for national selection.

“This group of players have shown maturity in understanding the requirements of a professional player. They all have a great work ethic and that has paid off for them.”

The squad of 26 will assemble at the Millennium Institute on Auckland’s North Shore from 3–6 May and at the same venue again for six days from 26 May.

The squad departs Auckland for Wales on Saturday 31 May on Air New Zealand flight NZ39 at 11.30pm.

New Zealand Under 20 squad: *Ben Afeaki (North Harbour), *Rodney Ah You (Canterbury), *Luke Braid (Bay of Plenty), *Ryan Crotty (Canterbury), *Ash Dixon (Hawke's Bay), Michael Harris (North Harbour), Grayson Hart (Auckland), Joe Hill (Wellington), *Daniel Kirkpatrick (Wellington), Matthew Luamanu (Wellington), *Quentin MacDonald (Tasman), ^*Sean Maitland (Canterbury), ^*Nasi Manu (Canterbury), ^*Kade Poki (Tasman), Hugh Reed (Hawke's Bay), *Trent Renata (Waikato), *Peter Saili (Auckland), Aaron Smith (Manawatu), *Chris Smith (North Harbour), Toby Smith (Waikato), Andre Taylor (Manawatu), *Josh Townsend (Otago), *Sam Whitelock (Canterbury), *Jackson Willison (Waikato).

Two players to be added to the squad.

* Member of the 2007 New Zealand Under 19 team.
^ 2008 Rebel Sport Super 14 player.

Key dates

3–6 May: Training camp, Millennium Institute, Albany
26–31 May: Training camp, Millennium Institute, Albany
6–22 June: IRB Junior World Championship, Wales
6 June: New Zealand v Tonga, Cardiff
10 June: New Zealand v Ireland, Cardiff
14 June: New Zealand v Argentina, Cardiff
18 June: Semifinals
22 June: Finals