ALEX Lewington is hoping to get himself back into the England fold after returning from an eight-month injury lay-off during London Irish’s 29-20 win against London Scottish on Saturday, writes Richard Ashton.

The 25-year-old was one of the few shining lights during Exiles’ relegation from the Aviva Premiership last year, earning an England Saxons call-up last summer.

However, his dream turned into a nightmare when he damaged knee ligaments playing against South Africa A in June, and missed the opening five-and-a-half months of this campaign.

Yet after showing he still retains his pace and skills on a miserable afternoon at the Madejski Stadium, Lewington told the Chronicle his long-term aim is to claim international honours. He said: “The long-term goal for me is to get into the England side for the World Cup. Every young English player who has aspirations wants to play for their country and I got close last year getting on the Saxons tour.”

He continued: “That’s the level I’ve got to get back to if I want to put pressure on the guys who are in the team at the moment, but England are very strong at the moment and they’re on a long, hot streak.

“They’re probably won’t be much rotation at the moment, but hopefully going into next season if we keep going like we are as a club, that will help me do it.”

Lewington admitted it had been a long journey to return, but said the reaction of the fans when his name was announced was special. He said commented: “It was fantastic and I didn’t expect it. When you’ve got a long-term injury it’s tough and you can’t really think about the first game back, because of how much it takes to get back there.

“To be honest at the start I isolated myself because it was so far off, but in the last couple of months I’ve been getting back in training, and then you start looking at the day when you can get back out there.

“And it was great to be back, albeit a bit surreal – it’s very different from training. You can’t replicate a game in training and in the first half I was struggling at times, but I’m sure that will get better.”