Attwood played 26 times during his first season with Gloucester

Gloucester's Dave Attwood is out to prove he is worthy of his place in the England Elite Player Squad.

During his first season at Kingsholm he 23-year-old lock made himself a Gloucester regular and won a place on England's summer tour down under.

"It's very easy to get swept up and think 'big tick, I've done that now'," Attwood told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

"If anything the challenge is bigger to feel like I'm deserving of the spot and as desperate as I was last year."

Attwood, who joined Gloucester from Bristol in 2009, was part of the England midweek side during this summer's tour to Australia and New Zealand and is still waiting to win his first international cap.

He has been part of the national set up since under-19s, having also played at under-20 level and England Saxons while he was still at university.

Attwood is now out to convince Martin Johnson he is worth of a starting place in the senior XV, but although he plays the same position as the England boss did during his career he has not received any special advice.

"Although I have had many conversations with Johnno, we don't really talk technical too much," he said.

"You try and absorb some stuff, but the game is different now to what it was even to last year with rule changes, so a lot of the conversations are about the development of the rules and the development of the game."

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