A taste of Heineken has refreshed Alex King's chances of establishing himself with England.

The 25-year-old outside half from Brighton is on the bench tomorrow for his country's first ever Six Nations match at home to Ireland.

And his influential form in Wasps' five-match Heineken European Cup winning run has done more than anything to keep him firmly in the thoughts of coach Clive Woodward.

While points machine Jonny Wilkinson is an automatic first choice at number ten, King was widely regarded as unlucky to be left out of the initial squad and banished to the A side.

But a shoulder injury to Paul Grayson let him back in and he's desperate for a chance to perform at Twickenham for the first time since his match-winning display in the Tetley's Bitter Cup final nine months ago.

King revealed: "I got the telephone call on Monday morning from Clive, telling me to join the Six Nations squad, and I found out I was on the bench on Tuesday.

"I was disappointed not to make the side in the first place because I thought I had been playing well for Wasps.

"You can never expect a call-up but I must admit I felt pretty pleased on Monday. Training has gone well and we've got two new caps in the side which makes things more exciting.

"Now we just want to give a good account of ourselves after the disappointments of the World Cup."

It's all a far cry from the summer of 1998 when King returned from a tour Down Under with his confidence in tatters

You'd never think such a thing was possible to see him dictating matters for his club these days.

King's self belief, vision and tactical awareness have been the driving force behind Wasps' European and Tetley's Bitter Cup campaigns.

He knows the tight confines of the Loftus Road pitch like the back of his hand and has outshone England rivals Austin Healey and Jonny Wilkinson on his own patch in the last 11 days.

Last Sunday's win over Wilkinson's Newcastle saw him scheme Wasps' running game against the wind, then harness the elements to great effect in the second period to keep his side moving forward with a series of teasing kicks.

The crowning glory should have come in the final minutes when, with play confined to the left touchline, he suddenly flighted a 50-yard cross kick towards the unmarked Josh Lewsey on the right wing.

Only Lewsey knows how he failed to gather the ball and touch it down for one of the tries of the season.

The Brighton College old boy admitted: "Twickenham is more wide open and it's got huge stands, but it's just another rugby pitch and I don't take too much notice of the surroundings.

"Obviously you don't want people to get injured but I would love to get on tomorrow.

"Jonny has the shirt at the moment but I am doing everything possible to get chosen.

"There's lot of talk about the structured season and maybe we are playing too much rugby these days.

"But there's nothing like an international to get the players going and the adrenalin will start flowing today and tomorrow monring. We know we've got to win"

King has already enjoyed two successes over the Irish this season as Wasps completed the Heineken Cup double over holders Ulster.

They also beat Bourgoin twice and won at home to Llanelli before losing the return in West Wales, the only game the Sussex man has missed this season.

He admitted: "The European competition has been brilliant.

"It's a different type of rugby and it's a great chance to bridge the gap between the club game and internationals.

"We want to play the best standard of rugby possible and the Heineken Cup allows us to do that.

"The league has been frustrating for us but the cups have been going really well and the fact that so many Wasps players are in the England squad reflects that."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.