Dan Ward-Smith, who could have been England’s No 8 in the past two RBS Six Nations Championship campaigns — and at the 2007 World Cup — has a simple philosophy going into Bristol’s new Guinness Premiership campaign.

“If I play out of my skin then I believe it will be impossible for England’s new management not to select me,” said the 30-year-old, a New Zealand-born and Cornwall-bred late developer who joined Bristol three years ago after a lengthy spell at Plymouth Albion.

Tall, powerful and with a blistering turn of speed, Ward-Smith was the form No 8 in the Premiership during the first half of the 2006-07 season, was called up by England to train with the squad for the autumn internationals and expected to make his debut in the opening match of the 2007 Six Nations against Scotland.

Then came the first of two serious injuries that have jinxed his past 18 months. Playing in a muddy scrap of a game away to Northampton in early January 2007, Ward-Smith suffered a serious knee injury that cost him that first cap and the rest of his season.

After a reconstructive operation, he spent the summer in rehabilitation in the United States, under the supervision of Bill Knowles, a knee specialist. The World Cup came around too soon for Ward-Smith, but by the late autumn of last year he was back playing again for Bristol and slowly getting back to full match fitness.

Against Harlequins in the Heineken Cup, however, came his second cruel blow in a year: a broken hand, which again ruled him out of Six Nations contention.

Now, though, after making it back into first-team rugby by the end of last season, he has enjoyed an uninterrupted summer of fitness work and preparation for a campaign that he knows may well offer him his last chance of winning international recognition.

“With Martin Johnson now in charge, and with a largely new England set-up, I think it will be a case of a clean slate and everyone starting out from the same position,” Ward-Smith added. “If you play well, and play well consistently, you will be noticed. The England hierarchy watch every Premiership match, not just the high-profile ones on television, and performances will count.

“At the moment I’m nowhere in terms of a pecking order because injuries have meant I have not been playing enough over the past season and a half. But, with the new rules now coming into operation, it will be a case of who can adapt to them the best and who can exploit them the most. I am an out-and-out No 8, although I can play other roles if required, but I’d like to think that at my best I’d have a chance of playing in an England back row.”

Ward-Smith, moreover, has been producing personal bests in training — in areas which include sprinting speed, strength, aerobic exercises and lower body exercises — that he has not achieved for five years. It has given him huge confidence that he can also reproduce the rugby form that took him to the brink of England selection.

“It was my aim last season to bounce back from the knee injury and get selected for England,” he said. “Injury meant that aim was not realised, but now at the start of another season it is just as strong an aim — if not even stronger.

“Every English-qualified player in the Premiership is aiming to play for England, but all I will be doing at the start of this season is trying to win selection every week for Bristol and playing well. You make your own luck, you write your own destiny, you create your own opportunities.”

Developing talent from outside the Premiership — as in the case of Ward-Smith — is something that Richard Hill, the Bristol head coach, has specialised in since he arrived to revitalise a club which itself, in 2003, slipped out of the top flight.

For this season Hill has again dipped into National League One for the likes of Vunga Lilo, the Tonga international from Cornish Pirates, Junior Fatialofa from Exeter Chiefs, and Chris Ashwin, a fly half from Newbury.

Robert Sidoli, the Wales second row from Cardiff Blues, and Adrian Jarvis, the fly half with significant Premiership experience for Harlequins, are more senior signings, but Hill is otherwise staying true to his tried and tested formula of assembling a tight-knit squad possessing a strength greater than the sum of its individual parts.

“This is the strongest squad we have had since I have been here,” Hill said. “We do not have the financial resources of other clubs, and the increase in the salary cap will affect us because others are now probably spending £1 million more than us on salaries.

“But we are not in the Heineken Cup this season, which really battered us injury-wise last year, and both on and off the field we are steadily building ourselves up. It's a long old process, but Bristol is a club with massive potential and everyone here is working tremendously hard to achieve lasting success.”

Club information: Head coach: Richard Hill Captain: Joe El Abd Website: www.bristolrugby.co.uk Address: Memorial Stadium, Filton Avenue, Horfield, Bristol BS7 0AQ Telephone: 0117 952 6119 Tickets: 0871 2082234

Squad:

Forwards -

English unless stated

Internationals IN CAPITALS

Dave Attwood; David Blaney; ANDREW BLOWERS (NZ, 11 caps); Peter Bracken (Ire); Josh Brown; NATHAN BUDGETT (Wales, 12); Alex Clarke; DARREN CROMPTON (1); Joe El Abd; Iain Grieve; JASON HOBSON (1); Ray Hogan (Ire); Mark Irish; Scott Linklater; Redford Pennycook; Chevvy Pennycook; James Phillips; Ryan Prosser; MARK REGAN (46); Matt Salter; MARIANO SAMBUCETTI (Arg, 11); ROBERT SIDOLI (Wales, 42); Wayne Thompson; ALFIE TO’OALA (Samoa, 12); Dan Ward-Smith; ROY WINTERS (2).

Backs -

Sam Alford; Tom Arscott; Luke Arscott; Chris Ashwin; Greg Barden; Ed Barnes; GRAEME BEVERIDGE (Scot, 6 caps); Neil Brew (NZ); Anthony Elliott; Luke Eves; Junior Fatialofa (Samoa); Adrian Jarvis; DAVID LEMI (Samoa, 22); VUNGA LILO (Tonga, 11); KEVIN MAGGS (Ire, 70); SHAUN PERRY (14); Lee Robinson; Haydn Thomas.

Fixtures:

Sept 7 Bath (H)

Sept 13 Harlequins (A)

Sept 19 Sale Sharks (H)

Sept 26 Newcastle Falcons (A)

Oct 1 Saracens (H)

Oct 4 Northampton (A)

Oct 10 Montpellier (A)

Oct 17 Toulon (H)

Oct 24 Llanelli Scarlets (A)

Oct 31/Nov 1/2 Saracens (H)

Nov 16 Northampton (H)

Nov 21 Gloucester (A)

Nov 30 London Irish (H)

Dec 6 Northampton (A)

Dec 14 Northampton (H)

Dec 20 Worcester Warriors (A)

Dec 27 Gloucester (H)

Jan 3 Northampton (A)

Jan 11 Saracens (A)

Jan 16/17/18 Toulon (A)

Jan 23/24/25 Montpellier (H)

Feb 13 Newcastle Falcons (H)

Feb 20 Sale Sharks (A)

March 1 Harlequins (H)

March 7 Bath (A)

March 13 Leicester (H)

March 22 London Wasps (A)

March 29 Worcester Warriors (H)

April 4 London Irish (A)

April 19 London Wasps (H)

April 25 Leicester (A)