Alex Lozowski out to cap stellar rise from the Wasps bench

England fly-half hopeful Alex Lozowski is ready to turn up the heat on rivals George Ford and Owen Farrell as he targets a first cap during the Six Nations.
Lozowski, 23, has exceeded all expectations following his summer move from Wasps to Saracens by helping the Premiership and European champions maintain their superb winning form, earning a surprise England call-up for the autumn squad.
The Londoner has no intention of standing still, however, and having nailed his colours to England’s mast after turning down summer overtures from Italy boss Conor O’Shea, he now has his sights set on the coveted Red Rose No.10 jersey.
“It feels close now,” Lozowski told The Rugby Paper. “To start with, you are very happy to be in the England environment and just being involved, but then that changes very quickly because you’re desperate to be involved in the matchday 23.
“You think, ‘I’m here now and I really want to play’ and nobody wants to make that journey back to their club after being released on Tuesday night.
“The team’s been doing unbelievably well and Fordy and Faz are obviously the leading pair, but it’s up to me and whoever else is behind them to catch up and Eddie Jones has given me things to work on now, mostly in connection with attack.
Lozowski explains: “With the way the game’s going in terms of speed, Test matches are becoming more unstructured and chaotic, so Eddie wants all his players to be in the game the whole time and totally connected with the play.
“It’s a case of me getting a hang of that because there’s obviously a difference between playing in the Premiership and playing at Test level. Tests are relentless, you can never switch off and you have to be in position to play and see things quicker.
“That’s the gist of what Eddie wants me to do and that’s what I’ve been trying to bring back from training with England to do for Saracens. I’ve still got things to improve at Saracens and that’s what it will take before I can take that next step.”
Saracens aim to take decisive steps in their defence of the Champions Cup over the next fortnight in home and away matches against Sale.
Lozowski is revelling in the responsibility after being third choice at Wasps, but insists there is no ill-feeling towards former boss Dai Young.
He said: “Professional sport is all about opinions and I wasn’t high enough up the pecking order at Wasps.
“But that’s fine, I saw Dai when we played them a few weeks ago and he said ‘well done’, so there’s absolutely no animosity there.
“It’s not been about proving anyone wrong, it’s more about me proving to myself that the belief I had was right. I thought I could do better than being third choice and I was lucky that another team had that belief and saw my potential.
“It just happened to be Saracens, the best team in Europe at the moment, and I was determined to prove myself and repay a club that put lots of faith in me when they could have signed any 10 they wanted to fill in for Charlie Hodgson.”
Despite his status as England’s third choice behind Ford and Farrell, Lozowski knows he must battle hard to stave off his main challengers.
He added: “Danny Cipriani and Freddie Burns are playing very well so you can never switch off otherwise that could be you gone.
“Eddie’s got to pick a new squad ahead of the Six Nations and I aim to provide him with what he wants.”
NEALE HARVEY