Dan Robson: I must get past Greig Laidlaw to earn Test call
But the livewire scrum-half, who made his first start of the season against London Welsh last week, has vowed to fight for the jersey.
Robson, 22, said: “Greig’s a great guy and a world-class player, so I can learn off him the same as I did when Jimmy Cowan was here.
“But I’m getting to the stage where I’d like to put a marker down and get going. I was thankful to start against Welsh and I’ve got to do everything I can to build on that and keep the shirt.”
Tipped last season by Danny Care as a future England star, Robson admits that is the furthest thing from his mind right now. Despite featuring for England against the Barbarians in June, Robson said: “You hear the chat about England and stuff, but Gloucester is my No.1 priority. I’ve just got to concentrate on playing well here.
“It’s so competitive here with Greig at the moment and it won’t come along unless I’m playing well for my club.”
Robson was one of Gloucester’s few stand-outs during a tough 2013-14 campaign. He said: “When you’re on the back foot and things aren’t going well, rugby is one of the hardest sports.
“But now David Humphreys has set his targets and what we’re doing is starting to pay off. We want to play at as quick a tempo as possible and hopefully we can build on a decent start and move up the table. We’ve got the squad.”
Robson’s dream is to follow in the footsteps of England World Cup-winning scrum-half Matt Dawson. He said: “Matt was always a hero for me growing up. He was always quick to the breakdown, very decisive and had very good core skills.
“That’s the No.9’s game at the moment and he is the one I’d like to emulate.”
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