Sam Burgess challenge spurs England hopeful Matt Garvey

Flanker Matt Garvey concedes that the presence of ex-Rugby League man Sam Burgess in Bath’s back-row has stymied his own international ambitions.
However, the bullish enforcer insists he relishes the competition and will fight for a starting spot as the West Country outfit ramp up their bid for silverware.
Garvey, 27, is one of 12 players with Bath or England who have made way to accommodate Burgess, with the hard-hitting Londoner appearing mainly off the bench last season – although he started yesterday against Exeter with Burgess among the subs.
Fellow back-rower Carl Fearns has left the club, while David Sisi is on loan at London Irish, but Garvey has no intention of following them out of the door, telling The Rugby Paper: “Obviously it affects your performances when you can’t get a run of games, but it’s competition and this year it’s about me finding consistency and getting my form back.
“Had an ankle injury not set me back, and if I’d had a good pre-season last year, I might have put myself in a better position to compete for a start in the back-row.
“Sam’s a terrific player and it’s important you have that competition because it makes the team better. But it’s obviously tough personally but it’s something every player goes through.
“I’ve got Test ambitions but that only comes with consistency of performance because you’re not going to get picked if you play well one game but not the next.
“I’ve got to be realistic and just do as well as I can for Bath, push everyone around me to be better and then, hopefully, things will lead on from there.”
Garvey feels England blundered by omitting Bath trio Dave Attwood, Kyle Eastmond and Semesa Rokoduguni from the World Cup squad, while he remains mystified by the decision to drop fly-half colleague George Ford.
He said: “You feel for the Bath boys in the squad because it’s personal and you know what they’re going through. But you have to question selection and I was gutted for Attwood, Roko and Kyle.
“Roko offers something different – physicality on the wing that others don’t – while Attwood’s a bit more bruising than the other locks, who I thought were all quite similar.
“Kyle, for me, was the in-form Premiership No.12 so I thought that was pretty hard and you saw the talent George had last year and I thought he’d have cemented that place.
“But you still back the other guys – unfortunately it just didn’t work.”
Bath missed out on silverware last season but Garvey believes the early return of their six England men has provided a timely boost.
“It’s a big thing having them back as we push for the ambitions we’ve got as a club,” he said.
“The memory of losing the Premiership final is still fresh and you don’t want to look back at your career with heartbreak.  You draw on that emotion and no one wants to emulate what we felt in the Twickenham dressing room last season.
“That’s something that’ll drive us throughout the year and we aim to go one step further.”
NEALE HARVEY