The future stars of world rugby will be on show in June when the second IRB Under-21 World Cup is staged in England.

Twelve nations will play a total of 30 matches over 16 days in the Thames Valley, where the games will be take place at Iffley Road, Henley, Newbury and the Kassam Stadium Home of Oxford United FC.

Champions South Africa – who beat Australia 24-21 in last year’s final – open the tournament when they kick-off against Ireland at Iffley Road at 3pm on June 13.

England’s campaign opens against Australia at the same venue at 7pm.

The hosts also take on Japan at Newbury on June 17 (7.30pm) and France at Henley on June 21.

The tournament then goes into two play-off rounds to determine the overall rankings, with England hoping to improve on their seventh place finish in South Africa last year.

The England Under-21 set-up plays a key role in developing young players to play rugby at the highest level and nearly all the big names in Clive Woodward’s senior squad have come up through the Under-21 ranks.

"We still have an enormous amount of work to do at these age grade levels, but the overall development of players from sixteen at club academies through to this level has been going very well and the main England side can only benefit,” said manager Peter Drewett.

"The two years development between the under-19 and under 21 levels is quite significant. During that time a lot of the players become professionals, be it with an English Premiership club or otherwise.

"They might also be knocking on the door of the sevens side and we work very closely with them and their clubs to provide individual development programmes."

England finished third in this season’s Under-21 Six Nations championship and Drewett hopes they can continue improving throughout this summer’s tournament against some tough opposition.

"Obviously South Africa and New Zealand are very strong, but we don't need to look any further than our pool for other serious contenders in France and Australia,” he said.

"Our natural game is to look to play with a lot of width, to give all players a full involvement in the game. If players progress to the sevens side or even on into the main England set-up then we're on track.

“The emphasis is on player development but we’re also keen to finish as high as we can in the tournament. We’ve got a highly committed group of talented young players and they’re all keen to go on to play for England at the highest level possible.”

IRB UNDER-21 WORLD CUP SCHEDULE

Pool A: South Africa, Argentina, Scotland.

Pool B: Australia, France, Japan.

Pool C: New Zealand, England, Italy.

Pool D: Wales, Ireland, Canada.

June 13

1 South Africa v Ireland (Iffley Rd, 3pm)

2 Argentina v Canada (Newbury, 5pm)

3 Scotland v Wales (Henley, 3pm)

4 Australia v England (Iffley Rd, 7pm)

5 France v Italy (Newbury, 7.30pm)

6 Japan v New Zealand  (Henley, 7pm)

June 17

7 South Africa v Canada (Henley, 3pm)

8 Argentina v Wales (Iffley Rd, 3pm)

9 Scotland v Ireland (Newbury, 5pm)

10 Australia v Italy  (Henley, 7pm)

11 France v New Zealand (Iffley Rd, 7pm)

12 Japan v England  (Newbury, 7.30pm)

June 21

13 South Africa v Wales  (Newbury, 6pm)

14 Argentina v Ireland  (Iffley Rd, 6pm)

15 Scotland v Canada  (Henley, 6pm)

16 Australia v New Zealand  (Newbury, 2pm)

17 France v England  (Henley, 2pm)

18 Japan v Italy (Iffley Rd, 2pm)

June 25

19 1st Pool A/D v 2nd Pool B/C (Kassam Stadium, 3pm)

20 2nd Pool A/D v 1st Pool B/C (Kassam Stadium, 7pm)

21 3rd Pool A/D v 4th Pool B/C (Henley, 3pm)

22 4th Pool A/D v 3rd Pool B/C (Henley, 7pm)

23 5th Pool A/D v 6th Pool B/C (Newbury, 5pm)

24 6th Pool A/D v 5th Pool B/C (Newbury, 7.30pm)

June 29

25 Winner M19 v Winner M20 (Kassam Stadium, 4.15pm)

26 Loser M19 v Loser M20 (Kassam Stadium, 12.15pm)

27 Winner M21 v Winner M22 (Newbury, 1.15pm)

28 Loser M21 v Loser M22 (Newbury, 11am)

29 Winner M23 v Winner M24 (Henley. 1.15pm)

30 Loser M23 v Loser M24 (Henley, 11am)