Indeed some including Leicester fly-half George Ford have made such progress that they have been made unavailable for the current tour of South Africa to be integrated into the first team’s pre-season campaign.

And Fletcher says the results his side who started off their tour of South Africa with a 35-10 defeat of a Namibian Invitational team have achieved are merely part of the process of getting the Red Rose youngsters to express themselves.

He said: “If it was simply my role to win games then I would pick the biggest pack of players I could and let them steamroller the opposition but I don’t do that.

“My job is to develop the players rather than to just win games. Of course we want to win and as a group of players they are hugely competitive but it honestly is more about the performance. If they get that right and enjoy themselves then they should be winning games.

“The most important thing is that they play to their potential and learn some lessons that will strand them in good stead for the rest of their careers.

Last year, Christian Wade bagged two tries and Ford finished with a 20-point haul in their comprehensive 45-13 defeat of South Africa schools.

This time around the competition promises to be tougher but Fletcher repeated his mantra that results are secondary to the learning experience for his young squad.

“Getting used to touring is also an important part of the process,” he said. “These days international rugby means being a good tourist because with so many major competitions you are required to tour a lot of the time.

“There’s no doubt about it that some of these players will play for England and a high percentage will play in the Premiership

“Once they get into a first-team environment they are in results-based business but for now they should be enjoying and learning about rugby.

“So that means we play an ambitious, expansive games to try and develop the quality of player. We try to push the boundaries as much as we can.”