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WRU chiefs have revealed they have made concerted efforts to persuade Welsh wonderkid Mat Protheroe to play for the land of his birth at age-grade level - but he has opted to represent England.

The Swansea-born and raised 19-year-old will line up at outside half for England U20s against Italy tomorrow - even though he has no English qualifications.

He has no family links and has not completed a three-year residency.

But there are no eligibility rules which have to be complied with for the U20s Six Nations.

So the richly-gifted Protheroe, who is on the books at Gloucester, is free to take up an offer from the RFU to play for the age-grade team.

He has already represented England at U18s level, having attended Hartpury College in Gloucestershire.

Now it has emerged he has rejected advances from Wales.

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WRU national performance manager Gethin Watts said: “I spoke to him personally in late 2014 about being involved in the Wales U18s programme.

“I discussed it at length with him. He came back and he categorically said to me that he was going to follow the English pathway.

“We made further representations to him last year about being involved with our U20s, but that hasn’t borne any fruit.

“Out of courtesy, I spoke to the RFU to tell them we were doing that.

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“It is a personal decision on the part of the player and we respect the decision.

“The door is always open should he decide in the future that he does want to play for Wales.”

Watch the brilliant Protheroe in action

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By playing for England U20s, Protheroe is not tying himself to the Red Rose, as it is not their designated second string. That is the Saxons.

So he could still go on to play for Wales at senior level, just as Ross Moriarty has done.

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He will not be able to play for England at the World Junior Championship this summer as he is not eligible on either family or residency grounds. Different rules apply to that competition compared with the Six Nations.

And he wouldn’t be able to play senior rugby for England until 2018, which is when he would qualify on the three-year residency rule.

If he were to represent Wales at U20s level, it would bind him to the land of his birth, as the WRU have designated it as their second string, with no A team.