'It's a level up': George Kloska on why England camp hits different

Bristol Bears tighthead George Kloska admits that he is hungry to get back to Pennyhill Park after being called up by Steve Borthwick to attend an England training camp earlier this month.

Kloska, 26, a product of the Bears academy, was asked by Borthwick to join the 36-man training squad ahead of the Calcutta Cup defeat to Scotland after playing a starring role for England A against Ireland.

A member of the Bears side that beat Toulon in the 2020 Challenge Cup final, he has made 11 appearances this season and admits that he was pleased to have club-mate Ellis Genge show him the ropes in the England camp.

“It all came quick, obviously, had the week with England A and then the game, which was good fun over in Limerick. And then I got the call on Sunday, which is a weird one, but it’s good fun.

“It’s a nice feeling, but also the nice feeling probably lasts for the drive up there. When you get there, you realise you just got to lock in, and you’ve got to be at that standard. So it was a good experience.

“I think he (Borthwick) was happy with how I trained, but it was just obviously sticking with the original three, which is fair enough. It’s one of those ones that being in that environment definitely makes you hungry to get back.

“Obviously, going against Genge in training, you can’t ask for a better bloke to basically just teach you what you’re doing wrong.

“And then when you’re in camp, obviously, I think this is his 10th Six Nations. So when I was in there, he knew the crack, helped me along and was a proper role model.

“It’s nice to experience it to know where you’re at and just know where you have to improve on. But the main difference, I think, was just the speed of everything. It’s a level up.

“It was a hell of a week, hell of an experience, just seeing the next level, seeing the highest level. I want to get back in there now,” he said.