Wasps' Dan Robson insists he will not change his style of rugby to suit Eddie Jones and England

Dan Robson has had many supporters tipping him for England honours this season, and the dynamic Wasps scrum-half’s coruscating form for his club, who made it eight wins in nine Premiership matches by beating the champions Exeter 13-7 in Coventry on Sunday, certainly demands attention.

But the 25-year-old Wasps No9 is continuing to bide his time as England’s head coach Eddie Jones looks elsewhere – most recently to Saracens’ Richard Wigglesworth – and Robson certainly won’t be changing his style in an attempt to curry favour.

“I’m never going to change the way I play to get into that kind of environment,” Robson said, after playing the full and gruelling 80 minutes against Exeter, despite a bang on the knee.

“I play a brand of rugby in this [Wasps] team, and the way we play it is exciting, it’s fun, and it’s a joy for me. I came here three years ago and everything’s evolved into the fact we play this brand of rugby. It’s so exciting and it’s got me to where I am today.

“I can’t think of ever changing how I play just to make someone else happy.”

Robson joined Wasps from Gloucester in 2015 and he has been a big part of their resurgence to claim top spot in the regular-season Premiership last year before they lost the grand final to Exeter in extra-time.

But the closest Robson has come to making a Test debut under Jones has been appearing in the 45-man elite player squad alongside Ben Youngs, Danny Care and Ben Spencer during the 2016-17 season.

There was a glimpse of a green light when Jones name-checked Robson alongside Wigglesworth and the uncapped Ben Vellacott of Gloucester ahead of the current Six Nations Championship, as possible next cabs off the rank in the event of an injury to the only scrum-halves in the main England squad: Youngs and Care.

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But when Youngs was carried off with a knee injury in the first-round win over Italy, it was the 34-year-old Wigglesworth who got Jones’s call as the Australian plumped for a “kicking scrum-half” to understudy Care in the second Six-Nations victory against Wales.

There are various ways of looking at the impasse. Robson’s fast-breaking style – epitomised by a brilliant break from a ruck to create a try in the excellent 44-22 league win at Harlequins the week before last – may not suit England at this moment, or it could be too similar to Care’s.

“Eddie has made his decision, and they [England] won,” said Robson, simply and without complaint.

“I have got to keep working hard and keep plugging along, and hopefully that [England] will come. That is my ultimate goal, to play international rugby, like 99 per cent of English rugby players growing up.

“England keep winning and good on them.

“I have spoken to Eddie in recent weeks, and the only way I can get into that team at the minute is to keep playing well for Wasps. If we keep putting in performances like the one against Exeter, it’s only going to help.”

There is no doubt Jones is spoilt for choice and in the meantime Wasps’ latest win has helped bunch the top three also comprising Saracens and Exeter in the Premiership together, with five points separating the trio as they chase a home semi-final by finishing first or second.

Gloucester, Newcastle and Bath are heading the chasing pack, six or seven points behind third-placed Wasps.

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The shocking European Cup capitulation at Harlequins in January has fired Wasps up for the second half of the season, although injuries to fly-half Danny Cipriani, back-rowers Alex Rieder and Jack Willis, and wing Marcus Watson in the Exeter match were a new setback during an otherwise impressive success.

Cipriani tweaked an Achilles tendon, Willis hurt his right shoulder, Watson rolled an ankle and – apparently most severely – Rieder went off with a badly-wrenched knee on a miserable reappearance for the 26-year-old after he dislocated a shoulder in mid-September.

“We’re taking the current bloc of four games on its own and we’ll see where we are after this,” Robson said.

“There’s another monumental battle against Gloucester [at Kingsholm] next week, we will tick over to that, hopefully pick up another win there and suddenly we can look at that top two.

“At the minute, it’s so tight and every point matters.

“That [European] match at Harlequins wasn’t good enough, giving up a big lead, and we used it as motivation. But we’re over that now and we’re concentrating on the Premiership.

“Against Exeter, I thought defensively we were outstanding. For 80 minutes we didn’t give them anything. And our last three-minute set of D [defence] summed the whole game up – the desire, the want to make tackles and really put in a shift. It was very pleasing.”

“The firmer grounds now suit our whole team and how we want to play – the speed of ball and really wanting to get on top of teams.

“We have to play our game, otherwise teams will figure us out and get to us. We win games by playing our way, running our structure and we’ve got to have the confidence to keep playing like that, no matter what the situation.

“We have got plenty of decision-makers in the backline to put the ball in behind and change the game if we need to. But the most confidence we can get out of it is to keep playing our game.”