England Saxons Head Coach Stuart Lancaster admits the Churchill Cup is the best platform to elevate his players to senior honours as next year's Rugby World Cup looms.
As his Saxons prepare to take on Russia on Wednesday Lancaster knows a great performance could be just the ticket to board the New Zealand flight next September.
"We have great pride in the players who step-up from the Saxons to play for the seniors." said Lancaster.
"Playing for your country is a massive motivation, coming here to win the Churchill Cup is a huge driver. And trying to elevate these players into the World Cup squad is a massive management motivation."
And there is no better player to start with than Phil Dowson (Northampton Saints) and having built a framework which allows his Saxons to showcase their talents Lancaster is hopeful for his captain.
"We are delighted for our lads that were here last year and are now in Australia with the seniors. I'd be thrilled if we can get Phil through into the senior squad for the World Cup.
"What we are trying to do is harness the talents of all the best club players and give them a system and framework to play in that allows them to express themselves." added Lancaster.
With Wednesday's encounter with Russia just days away Dowson is excited to be back in Denver and is preparing his squad for the altitude which caught them out against Argentina Jaguars last year.
"The American's are so enthusiastic and that makes for a fantastic atmosphere." said Dowson.
"We really enjoyed it here last year, it's a great place to play and apart from wheezing in the first 20 minutes of our first match it was a good experience!
"We have a big game first up against Russia then we have a short turn around against USA so we need to make sure that we are in the best possible shape and that starts on the training pitch."
The England Saxons face Russia on June 9 and hosts USA on June 13 in Denver, before heading to New Jersey for the finals day on June 19.
England Saxons 2010 Churchill Cup fixtures:
Wednesday, June 9
Infinity Park, Glendale, Colorado
England Saxons v Russia (kick off 3.00pm, local time, BST-7)
Sunday, June 13
Infinity Park, Glendale, Colorado
USA v England Saxons (kick off 1.00pm, local time, BST-7)
Saturday, June 19
Red Bull Arena, Harrison, New Jersey
Finals Day triple header (kick off TBC)
2010 Churchill Cup England Saxons Squad
Forwards
Duncan Bell (Bath Rugby)
Nathan Catt (Bath Rugby)
Alex Corbiserio (London Irish)
Phil Dowson (Northampton Saints)
Graham Kitchener (Worcester Warriors)
James Hudson (Newcastle Falcons).
Tom Lindsay (London Wasps)
Kearnan Myall (Leeds Carnegie)
Luke Narraway (Gloucester Rugby)
Andy Saull (Saracens)
George Skivington (London Wasps)
Andy Titterrell (Leeds Carnegie)
Rob Vickers (Newcastle Falcons)
Nick Wood (Gloucester Rugby)
Tom Wood (Worcester Warriors)
Backs
Nick Abendanon (Bath Rugby)
Anthony Allen (Leicester Tigers)
Brad Barritt (Saracens)
Jon Clarke (Northampton Saints)
Lee Dickson (Northampton Saints)
Alex Goode (Saracens)
Stephen Myler (Northampton Saints)
James Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester Rugby)
Ollie Smith (Montpellier)
Tom Varndell (London Wasps)
Micky Young (Newcastle Falcons)
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