England Under 20s

Thomas Stephenson

Key Facts

Squad	Northampton Saints
Position	Centre
Age	19
Height	1.85m (6'1")
Weight	95kg (14st 13lb)
Caps	U20: 4

Graduating to the Northampton Saints Senior Academy for 2012-13 marked another step up the ladder for Oxford-born Thomas Stephenson, who represented his country at U16 level and played on the winning side in eight consecutive matches for England U18, including the 2012 FIRA/AER European Championship. His introduction to the game was at the age of four at Buckingham RFC and he went on to appear for Buckinghamshire Schools and the South West.

His plaudits include winning the Chris Kokta Memorial Trust award that was set up to support young people through the game of rugby. A junior academy member at Franklin’s Gardens, he attended Bloxham School before going to Moulton College and appeared for the Saints XV against Russia in the autumn of 2011.

He said: "It was the highest level I have reached and the game was played in front of a big crowd." His senior debut was against Harlequins in LV= Cup last November and he played in his initial England U20 game against France on his home club ground in February this year.

Thomas appeared for the national U16 side in Rome in April 2010 and 15 months later was involved in the three England U18 tour matches in Sydney. He started the game against Australia A Schools in which his side scored 27 points without reply and led the team to a 20-8 victory over Scotland at Hawick in March 2012.

Mum Rosemary Fehler represented England at netball and grandfather Richard Stephenson played rugby for Cambridge University. Tom’s favourite internationals are Jonny Wilkinson, Lawrence Dallaglio and Lewis Moody and his mentors are Alan Dickens and Mark Hopley at Saints, who followed Andy Goldsmith and John Horton at Bloxham School and Jon Phillips at Moulton College. Tom’s ambition outside rugby is to climb Mount Everest.