Centre Dan Hipkiss looks to prove his worth for England ahead of World Cup.
Leicester centre hopeful of World Cup place
Centre Dan Hipkiss is relishing the chance to prove himself ahead of culls to England's final World Cup squad.
Hopkins was named as one of Brian Ashton's initial 47-man squad and has since survived the first cuts by the head coach.
Those not selected included fellow Leicester Tigers team-mate Louis Deacon and Sale back rower Magnus Lund.
England's first World Cup warm-up is set to take place on August 4 against Wales and Hopkins is hoping the match could be his first chance to show his potential as part of the national squad.
The 25-year-old has only been a part of the national set-up for four weeks and is determined to impress fellow squad members and the team management.
He told the Leicester Mercury: "It is all pretty new to me despite four weeks of training. I still feel like a new boy because it is all completely different to me.
Chance
"I am used to being comfortable at Leicester. I know my team-mates, my surroundings and you know your place.
"I don't suppose you get to know your team-mates well until you start playing with them in games and three warm-up games we have will give us the chance to do that.
"Having England kit on is not as strange as I thought it would be because I have not thought about it or had time to think, 'This is England'. I try to look upon it all as simply training sessions and try not to get overwhelmed by it all."
However the training was not all that Hipkiss had bargained for recently when the team had an unscheduled few days with the Royal Marines.
Regarding the unexpected change of plan, Hipkiss said: "We were given our army kit and told to keep out swimming trunks - I didn't think they would be for the swimming pool. It was all good stuff and we all bonded quite well with the other people in the squad.
"Let's just say it wasn't your normal training session."
