Nick Kennedy has already played for the Saxons (Getty)

London Irish forwards coach Toby Booth has said he is delighted that four players have been called up for England's tour of New Zealand.

Nick Kennedy, David Paice, Topsy Ojo and Peter Richards are all named.

Booth told BBC Radio Berkshire: "From my previous job as academy manager it's important to see progression and we're delighted for those boys."

"They joined the academy when I was the manager and they've progressed all the way through."

Booth will be with the England Saxons this summer in North America as the forwards coach and will be there with Irish players Steffon Armitage and Paul Hodgson.

He admitted it was a blow for scrum-half Hodgson to miss out on the senior tour of New Zealand.

"Paul's obviously very disappointed not to have made the main squad, having been capped in the recent Six Nations.

Australian-born Paice is a product of the Exiles' academy (Getty)

"Dodge will bring a lot of experience and be involved almost from a vice-captain's point-of-view.

"The fact that Steffon Armitage is in is a credit to him and also to our strength and conditioning staff who have worked very hard on him to get him into great shape.

"We believe that players like James Buckland, Declan Danaher, James Hudson and Kieran Roche will be encouraged by the selection of their colleagues and will compete even harder to secure places in future squads."

Delon Armitage and Shane Geraghty were not considered for either squad because of injury.