Edinburgh second-row Jamie Hodgson admits that a spot in Scotland’s World Cup squad is his dream, but he knows he has to perform consistently at club level first.
Hodgson has represented Scotland on six occasions but was initially left out of the squad for the Autumn Nations Series, only to be called up after Sam Skinner succumbed to injury.
Competitive position
The 24-year-old understands that there are several quality second-rows in the mix for Scotland, and he has to make sure he is playing as well as possible.
“The World Cup is out there in the distance,” said Hodgson. “The idea of being part of a World Cup is a dream of mine but the first step’s got to be playing good rugby for my club.
“Getting a run of games for Edinburgh and proving myself here is the most important thing in my mind just now.
“There are so many good locks at Edinburgh and with Scotland so it’s just a case of whoever is playing the best rugby at the time. It’s an incredibly competitive position so you’ve just got to focus on yourself and making sure you’re playing as well as you can.”
Using experience
Despite not playing for Scotland this month, Hodgson claims to have learnt a lot from being in camp, and he is looking to apply that in the upcoming United Rugby Championship games.
“I’ve had three weeks in camp training away with Scotland, which I’ve taken a lot from, and I feel in a really good place with my rugby so I’m excited to go and put it out on the pitch,” he said.
“It’s great to go away with Scotland and be training with the quality of players they have, learning off everyone and absorbing information off the coaches.
“When you come back to your club, you just want to take all that learning and all the hard work you did in training and put that out on the pitch.”
Hodgson admits his side did not do themselves justice when they toured South Africa but managed to find good form before the international break.
“I think the two away games in South Africa were disappointing,” said Hodgson. “But since we’ve come back from there, we’ve had an impressive run, especially away to Cardiff.
“I think we’re in a pretty good position, we just want to be knocking on the door of the top four.”