SIX months after almost quitting rugby, former Winterbourne International Academy pupil Dave Attwood is hoping to force his way into England’s World Cup squad.

The 23-year-old lock appeared to have the world at his feet after making his international debut against New Zealand at Twickenham and adding another cap against Western Samoa in the autumn internationals, but just one month later he was found guilty of stamping in Gloucester’s European Challenge Cup game against La Rochelle.

A nine-week ban followed, forcing Attwood to miss the Six Nations, but he returned to help Gloucester win the LV=Cup - the first domestic trophy of his career - and is now playing in the Churchill Cup with for England Saxons.

Although Attwood has one eye on the long-term, he hasn’t given up hope of going to the New Zealand World Cup in September and hopes some impressive performances for the Saxons could see him included in Martin Johnson’s preliminary World Cup squad later this month.

He said: “That will give me some opportunity to hopefully play myself into the World Cup training camp and once you’re in the camp it’s an open ball game.

“At the minute I think I need to rely on some good fortune and some really outstanding performances to put myself back in the reckoning.

“I’ve got a lot to make up, and to a certain extent I’ve started looking at the longer picture now, but it’s not a write off. I’m fit and playing well so anything can happen this summer.

“I haven’t done any favours for myself getting the ban and it’s put a real dent in my World Cup aspirations, but I’m still a young bloke and I could potentially have two or three more World Cups that I’m eligible for so I’ve got plenty of time yet.”

Attwood toured Australia and New Zealand with the senior England side for the first time last summer and admits the last 12 months have been a bit of a whirlwind.

He said: “From the dizzy heights of winning your first cap and playing for England at Twickenham, feeling like you’ve blinded someone wondering whether you ought to give the game up altogether and then getting back in the Gloucester team, getting a bit of form back and winning the LV Cup, it’s been an up and down year for me.

“The summer tour to Australia, which was the start of the England stuff for me, was amazing.

“Kicking on from there through that pre-season I came back in really good shape, feeling good about the season with Gloucester.

“It started amazingly with the autumn internationals getting more game time than I expected.

“Playing in the New Zealand and Samoa games was great for me and at the tail end of that I was looking forward to the Six Nations and some serious involvement over the summer but the ban over Christmas put the brakes on everything. I can’t help but feel I’ve missed out slightly.”

Former Frampton Cotterell youth player Attwood felt distraught after the stamping incident and told the Gazette how it made him question whether to continue playing.

“It was a difficult time, particularly as a young bloke,” he said.

“It’s been pretty stressful but hopefully character building, and hopefully it will put me in good stead for the future.

“The incident itself wasn’t malicious, it wasn’t intentional, and I didn’t mean to stamp on his face at all.

“A couple of days later it came out, falsely thankfully, that he might lose his eye.

“I can’t express how awful that made me feel so it was a serious consideration (to quit) at the time.”

Attwood played the full 80 minutes in Saxons’ 87-8 win over USA on Saturday and will hope to be involved when they take on Tonga at Kingsholm on Sunday (2.30pm).