Former London Scottish star Elliot Daly revealed his mum was reduced to tears by his England call-up this week, but knows he has a lot of work to do if he is to wrestle the number 13 shirt away from Jonathan Joseph.
The 22-year-old Wasps versatilty man was voted the club’s player of the year by supporters and his peers alike, while he was also on the shortlist for the Land Rover Discovery of the season gong at the Aviva Premiership Rugby Awards evening on Wednesday.
Though Exeter Chiefs’ star Henry Slade took home that award, the form displayed this season by Daly, uncapped by England, earned him a call to Stuart Lancaster’s initial 50-man World Cup training squad.
But with stiff competition in his way to make the final 31-man party Daly, who touched down five times in the league this year, knows now is not the time to get overexcited.
“They’ve named seven or eight centres, so I know it’s going to be really tough,” said Daly.
“I found out I was in the squad on Tuesday. I was out with a few of the lads for coffee after we did a little session in the morning and I got the call.
“It was amazing – I called my parents straight away and mum actually started crying.
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“I didn’t really expect it and when I got the phone call it was one of those things I will always remember.
“It definitely feels like a breakthrough year for me – the last couple of years I’ve been flitting between full-back, wing and centre."
The Croydon-born Daly added: “I’ve got to learn really quickly now and try and impress in every way possible, so hopefully I can do that in the Barbarians game next Sunday, then I just want to get into camp and impress as much as possible.
“Jonathan Joseph has had an awesome year and pushed on massively to become a world class 13 which is what I want to achieve.
“Seeing him doing so well is awesome both in the Six Nations this year and for Bath, so hopefully he can push on as well this year and it’ll be a really good competition between us.”
Daly’s Wasps finished the Aviva Premiership Rugby season in sixth place, achieving their pre-season target set by director of rugby Dai Young.
And Daly believes they can continue to thrive at their new Ricoh Arena home next term.
“With the move up to Coventry some people were quite sceptical of it outside of the club,” added Daly, named on the Land Rover Discovery of the Season shortlist with Jack Nowell, Maro Itoje and Jack Clifford.
“But we’ve gone from 6,000 to 28,000 and then sold it out two weeks ago, so Coventry has been a massive move for us.
“We got sixth place and that’s what we wanted this year. And we wanted 60 points and we ended up with 61, so we definitely made our goals this season and hopefully we can push on next year.”
The winner of the Land Rover Discovery of The Season award was announced at the Premiership Rugby Awards on May 20. Follow @LandRoverRugby #WeDealInReal
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