Hodgson counts himself lucky to have had few injuries in his career (Getty)

The scrum-half was called into Brian Ashton's squad but injured his knee playing for Irish against Leeds.

He told BBC Radio Berkshire that his priority is the Exiles, but England is in his thoughts.

He said: "I'm desperate to be in the England squad so I am gunning for that. But I know the process to get me there and that's to play well for Irish."

Interview: London Irish scrum-half Paul Hodgson

Interview: London Irish flanker Kieran Roche

"I felt I was in good form. I was speaking to people in the senior squad and I think I had half a chance to be involved. So the timing was horrendous to say the least, but I haven't had too many injuries."

There are a lot of other rugby players out there who have a lot worse time with injuries Scrum-half Paul Hodgson

Hodgson admitted that he feared it would take longer to recover from his injury.

"It's only taken a couple of weeks for my knee to get better. It was touch and go at first but I've had great rehab and treatment at the club from Nicola Finn and Megan Sturley and I think they got me back on track quicker than expected and now I'm raring to go.

"The timing was bad but it was only two weeks - there are a lot of other rugby players out there who have a lot worse time with injuries.

"The main thing is that I'm fit and I want to have a good game to put my name back into the reckoning."

Meanwhile, Kieran Roche starts his first match at the Madejski Stadium since he fractured his eye-socket in December.

Perpignan captain Perry Freshwater received a four-week ban for striking Roche with his elbow in the Heineken Cup match in France.

Roche told BBC Radio Berkshire his recovery is almost complete.

Roche still has some blurred vision which should heal within six months (Getty)

He said: "It's pretty much there. I've got a small bit of double vision left but nothing that's really affecting me playing or day-to-day. I was given the all-clear on Tuesday for the last little bit of bleeding, so I'm fine really with no problems.

"My first week back contact-training, Bobby (Casey) came up to me and said 'Are you all right?' and I said I was fine. He then said, 'How's your head?', meaning psychologically.

"I honestly hadn't even thought about it because apart from when I actually did it, there wasn't a great deal of pain associated with it, so my mind wasn't on knocking it again and it never felt fragile."