Matt Banahan is eyeing a place on next year’s Lions tour of Australia.
The Bath winger has been overlooked by England since their disappointing World Cup last year. He admits it has been difficult to impress as Bath endured a testing season in which they finished eighth in the Aviva Premiership.
But the 25-year-old is determined to make amends and force his way into the Lions reckoning.
"To show what you've got to the England coaches when you don't get the ball is quite hard, so I can see why I wasn't selected, but it's frustrating, especially after a good World Cup," said Banahan.
"But sometimes you need little breaks to get that hunger back and hopefully coming into this season I'll be a bit better than I was last year because I've got that drive.
"There's a Lions tour next summer and you never know, a good Six Nations, if I get selected, and you never know what's going to happen at the end of next year."
The 16-cap powerhouse, who has scored four England tries since making his debut in 2009, is currently in the Saxons squad.
Following their disappointing season Bath have just three players in the England senior squad and Banahan is well aware of the need to perform on the domestic front.
"We've got two people in the squad with a third just called up by injury, but in previous years we were five or six up because we were always in the top four," added Banahan.
"It shows that when you're in the top four in the Premiership that you've got a far stronger position to be calling for England positions than when we finished eighth this year."
