Kvesic out to impress against Wales

Gloucester’s Matt Kvesic admits he is determined to keep on performing to the best of his ability despite the disappointment of being left out Eddie Jones’ England squad that will tour Australia.

Kvesic has been given the opportunity to pull on an England shirt against Wales at Twickenham on Sunday, but he does not feature in England’s 32-man party that will travel Down Under next month.

The decision to leave the flanker out of the squad did surprise some considering the 24 year-old has made more turnovers in the Premiership than any other player this season.

Jones once again stuck with Chris Robshaw, James Haskell and Jack Clifford in the flanker positions, but Kvesic is adamant that if he gets his chance to impress on Sunday, he will grasp it with both hands.

“I don’t know what the team will be this weekend, but I hope I play some part in that,” Kvesic told TRU’s Max Skofic. “I would like to get that chance to show what I can do on the pitch so if that chance does come this weekend against Wales, then I will be ready to take it.”

Kvesic has certainly been a highlight for his club Gloucester this season in a campaign that ended disappointingly for the Cherry and Whites.

Having looked in a strong position to finish in the top six following a 13-10 win over Wasps at the start of March, Gloucester ended the term with just one victory from their last eight games in all competitions – a run which included a 23-21 defeat to Newport Gwent Dragons in the quarter-finals of the European Challenge Cup.

“It was a really tough to take, added Kvesic. “ It felt like it fell apart in that final third of the season.  We played Wasps at home and beat them in a really good game which perhaps, we weren’t expected to win with Wasps playing so well, but we managed to turn them over and get a great result.

“At that point, I think we were just sat off the top six or we might have been in sixth and almost wer were also pushing top four. We had Worcester away, Irish away, Bath at home coming up and those were three games we liked to think we could’ve won and unfortunately I think we only came away with a couple of points out of those three games and that really killed us.

“The defeat against Newport soon after in the quarter-finals in Europe then hampered us aswell and that was really disappointing.”

But, Kvesic insists Gloucester will be able to bounce back from their eight placed finish this term.

“It was a weird season because we played some really good stuff, but also had some frustrating results which ultimately led to us finishing where we did.  Top six is clearly an ambition for next season, but we will set goals and push hard for that and look to go well in Europe again."