Manly's colts flyhalf Joe Dillon earned a last minute call up to the Junior Wallabies squad after impressing for the Marlins in the Shute Shield colts competition.

Dillon thought his hopes of representing Australia at the under 20s World Cup were over when he missed selection in Nathan Grey’s squad for a warm up tournament last month.

But after impressing at Manly Oval, Dillon was a shock inclusion in Grey’s 30-man squad and will spend the next month competing with and against the best young rugby players in the world.

“I was always hopeful but I didn’t really expect it to be honest and when Greysy called, I was pretty shocked,” he told Rugby News before leaving for South Africa.

"I was invited to a camp in Sydney earlier this year but then I didn’t get picked in the squad for the Rugby Championships.