BEN Morgan is concentrating on Gloucester and not concerning himself on adding to his England international appearances – for now.

The former Dursley RFC number eight has won 31 caps for his country and was fighting for his place alongside ex-Thornbury Bronco Billy Vunipola when he played his last Test match in the 33-13 defeat to Australia on October 3 2015.

That was in the Rugby World Cup which England bowed out of unceremoniously in the group stages and signalled the end of national coach Stuart Lancaster’s reign in charge at Twickenham.

Since then, Morgan has gone through injury problems, particularly a calf injury that has kept him out of Gloucester’s team for months this season.

And he has seen Eddie Jones, who took over from Lancaster as England coach, call upon Vunipola and others to fill the number eight spot instead of the 29-year-old Gloucester ace.

But Morgan is happy concentrate on his club career now, adding: “Having just come back from a calf injury, I am getting up to game fitness and speed again. I love being in the Gloucester shirt and hope to get more opportunities.

“I have not thought about England. I am very much focusing on Gloucester. If we are successful, it will breed success elsewhere.

“It is up to players here to make sure we are putting markers down every week and more and more will get international honours.

“We have got to keep plugging away. We were probably underrated at the start of the season and people are slightly starting to look at us as a team. We do not look outside what we are doing here. We are trying to put in good performances.”

And the fact that Gloucester have improved beyond belief this season under new head coach Johan Ackermann after years dawdling along in the lower end of the Aviva Premiership, speaks volumes about the new confidence at the Cherry and Whites.

After a cracking final few months of 2017, Gloucester had the jitters over Christmas as they were hammered 49-24 at Wasps on December 23 and then had to rely on two late Billy Twelvetrees penalties to rescue a 20-16 home win over Sale Sharks on the final Saturday of the year.

But Morgan said: “I do not think that we have been delivering performances that we are totally pleased with, but we are getting through and winning games even when we are not hitting the notes. There is definitely more to come from us as a side.

“The majority of the group has been together for some time and we have been through some awkward times, on the wrong end of results in the last few minutes, and a bit more resilience this season has seen us through. It has come from a mix of the old and the new.

“Having experienced it, you become tougher but also the mindset that has been instilled in us and the culture we are developing has been influenced by people coming in.

“Winning is a habit and a hard one to get into because the league is so competitive. The teams that finish at the top do not change that much across four or five years and that is typical of a team becoming successful.

“Look at Exeter. They do not make drastic changes to their squad but stay together.”