Six players will join NEC Harlequins as academy professionals for next season - with Sebastian Stegmann, Tom Sargeant and Greg Bateman all making the step up from schoolboy academy status.

Winger Stegmann played for England at U16 level in 2005 before being selected for the England Under 18 academies side in the same year. Sargeant is a back row forward who rose rapidly through both the Quins Academy structure and representative ranks. He played for the England A Under 16 team before being selected for the England Academies Under 18 squad.

Having been part of the team that competed in the Under 18 Six Nations Festival back in April, both Stegmann and Sargeant have been named in the England Under 18 squad that will travel to Australia in August for a Summer Development Tour.

Front row forward Bateman represented Surrey from Under 15s through to Under 18s and was part of the England Under 18 A squad that competed in the Association of European Rugby tournament in Biarritz back in April. Bateman has also been selected in the England Under 18 squad for the Summer Development Tour to Australia.

Quins have also awarded Academy contracts to tighthead prop Dan Frazier, half back Ryan Manyika and hooker Mike Pointing, all of whom have worked their way through the Club's Elite Player Development Centres. Frazier has won county honours with Surrey, while Manyika was part of the Zimbabwe squad that competed in the Under 19 World Cup earlier this year. Pointing joins Quins from John Fisher School.

"We are extremely excited about the potential within this young crop of players," said Collin Osborne, NEC Harlequins Academy Manager. "Hopefully they can follow in the footsteps of Ugo Monye, Adrian Jarvis, Jordan Turner-Hall and Mike Brown, who have all become key figures within the First XV squad here at Quins having come through the Academy."

"Youth development plays a fundamental part in what we are trying to build and create here at the Club and I have every confidence that these six young men will continue to improve and that they all have bright futures in the game."