DURSLEY ace Ben Morgan believes he is ‘on track’ to make the England World Cup squad after months of rehabilitation on his broken leg.

Gloucester number eight Morgan is realistic about his chances and said: “I know what I’m facing and it will be great if I make a full recovery in time.”

England begin their campaign to regain the Webb Ellis Trophy they won in incredible style 12 years ago with a warm-up match against France at Twickenham on August 15 and start the tournament in earnest with a date against Fiji on September 18.

Morgan, 26, has linked up with the national team after going on holiday and is positive he can get into enough shape to regain the form that brought him the Player of the Series accolade during last year’s Autumn Test Series.

Morgan, who badly broke his leg while playing for Gloucester against Saracens in January, said: “Things have gone well so far and I have been very lucky to have some one on one time with Phil Pask (England’s senior physiotherapist)  for the first two weeks. I was able to get a lot of sessions in, some crucial strengthening work and that’s set me up to get my work done.”

He has visited his old club, Dursley RFC, a few times during his time on crutches but now he is off them and has his eye firmly on the World Cup.

“I’ve been working hard to make sure I was in the best place when I came in here (with England).

“It’s difficult to say if I am ahead or behind schedule, I’d say I’m on track but I have to take it day by day. I’ve lost quite a bit of muscle so I have to slap the clay (muscle) back on.

“The focus is on strengthening the leg and getting it to a point when I can be on the field with the lads.

“There’s no point getting worked up about things if they don’t go your way, I have to go through certain check points before I can run and until I reach them, I can’t rush anything.”

His biggest rival for the England number eight jersey is current Saracens man and former Thornbury RFC player Billy Vunipola, but the opposition in the form of the southern hemisphere nations will test Morgan’s recovery to the limit.

He added: “There are top class players and you’re competing with the best, it’s great to have that but I can afford to think about that until I’m in a position to challenge.

“I feel I was in good form before the injury and hope I can get back to that but there will be a lot of hard work between that.”

And throughout his rehab, Morgan, capped 32 times by England, said he remained focussed on making national coach Stuart Lancaster’s party for the biggest tournament in rugby union.

“I never ruled the World Cup out, it was great to have that in my mind, I’ve worked hard and I’m here at the moment.”