Burton Albion academy players were invited to train with the England under 20 and under 21 age groups at St George's Park during the international break.
As part of the growing relationship between the National Football Centre and the Brewers - which has seen all academy age groups invited to train there this season, with the first-team using it full-time - players were asked to fill in for injured England stars in certain positions.
That meant the likes of Daniel Cooke, Jayden Cotterill, Reece Hutchinson and Jack Bromfield were all sent to train with Keith Downing's under 20s side.
Albion academy forwards James Harrison and Jake Davies, along with defender Nathan Morley, trained with the under 21s, pitting themselves against a number of youngsters who made it to the semi-finals of last summer's under-21 European Championships.
Burton's academy coach Sam Rose said he was pleased that the academy is being offered the opportunity to assist the national sides where they can, but the benefits for his players to work with some of the country's hottest prospects is not lost on him.
"We have got a good working relationship with the FA, especially with Eric Steele and Tim Dittmer (under-20/21s goalkeeping coaches)," Rose said.
"The players were selected based on the positional requirements of those sides, but they are also players that we knew were going to go and give a good account of themselves and our academy.
"I think that the England sides had a couple of injuries and needed some extra bodies to keep up with the requirements of their training sessions, so instead of changing what they had planned they afford the opportunities to clubs like ourselves to put players in and give our players an outstanding experience that they are never going to forget.
"For the FA and the English national squads to trust us to provide players of a standard to cope with the demands of their sessions is obviously very good for the club and the Academy.
"We are pleased when we can tell the lads that they are going to train with the England under 20s or under 21s.
"I think the entire experience is great for them. They can hear how the coaches are interacting with the players and the information that is being given to them at that elite level. Hopefully the players can learn from the experience.
"This ongoing relationship with the FA and St George's Park is something that the club values greatly and we believe that it will help us generate the future players for our first team."
