There’s an immediate opportunity for revenge with the Baby Boks – their third place conquerors in their pool – in their pool alongside RBS 6 Nations opponents Scotland and Ireland.

And Hunter is hoping success in the Under-20 Six Nations – where they finished runners up this year – can be the springboard to success in Italy.

He said: “We’d like to go all the way, but to do that we need to perform to the best of our ability in the pool stages and take it from there.

“We’re a long way away from the tournament at the moment and we’ll be in a good position to see how we’re developing after the U20 RBS 6 Nations.”

“It will be tough – it’s a pretty intense competition.

“We’ll need to have a strong squad because we'll need every single player. We know a little bit about Ireland and Scotland and it will be a great experience to play against South Africa.

“One of the great things about this competition is getting to play countries that you wouldn’t normally come up against.”

Ben Youngs and Courtney Lawes are two players who have made the step up from the Under-20s to the senior set-up.

In the other pools, Wales have the unenviable task of qualifying from a group containing the formidable Baby Blacks along with hosts Italy and Argentina.

France meanwhile face runners-up Australia along with the South Sea Islanders Fiji and Tonga.