Reds ace Liam Gill will lead a 28-man Australian Under-20 squad, who are going through final preparations begin for the 2012 IRB Junior World Championship in South Africa in June.

The squad, selected by coaches Anthony Eddy and David Nucifora, features several marquee players with captain Gill the biggest name.

The Australian Under-20s will look to improve on last year's performance at the IRB Junior World Championship, where they finished third following a 37-7 loss to New Zealand in the semifinal, before beating France 30-17 in the third-fourth playoff game.

The squad will spend 10 days together in Australia, before heading to South Africa to continue preparations for the tournament. In Australia, preparations will include a trial game against the Samoan Under-20s at Pittwater Rugby Park on Friday, May 25.

The 2012 IRB Junior World Championship sees Australia's U20s as the top seed of Pool C, taking on France, Argentina and Scotland.

Pool A features New Zealand, Fiji, Wales and Samoa while Pool B contains England, South Africa, Ireland and Italy.

In its brief history since changing from the Australian U19 and U21 programs, the Australian U20 side has nurtured the talent of a number of current Wallabies and Super Rugby players including, Quade Cooper, Will Genia, David Pocock, Rob Simmons, James Slipper, Rob Horne and Kurtley Beale.

Australia Uner-20 squad: Allan  Alaalatoa, Curtis  Browning, Lindsay Crook, Steven  Cummins, Thomas  Cusack, James Dargaville, Allan  Faalavaau, Con Foley, Nicholas Frisby, Liam Gill (captain), Kyle Godwin, Malietoa Hingano, Lewis Holland, Jed Holloway, Oliver Hoskins, Sam Jeffries, Silatolu Latu, Apolosi Latunipulu, Matthew Lucas, Leslie Makin, Sean McMahon, Benn Melrose, Maile Ngauamo, Pettowa Paraka, Sam Reiser, Hugh Roach, Christopher Sautia.