LONDON, 23 March 2005 — Mark Cueto hopes an impressive start to his England career that has yielded eight tries in his first eight Tests will help him secure a place on the British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand which gets underway in June.
The 25-year-old powerful Sale wing, overlooked by Lions boss Clive Woodward when the World Cup-winning supremo was in charge of England, did not make his Test debut until November’s Twickenham international against Canada when he was selected by Andy Robinson. He kept his place and was an ever-present during the Six Nations Championship which England finished on Saturday with a 43-22 Calcutta Cup victory against Scotland.
Now Cueto, who didn’t take up rugby union seriously until the age of 17, wants to move to an even higher level when the Home Unions elite take on the All Blacks in a three-Test series.
“Obviously I’d love to go and fingers crossed I’m in that squad but we’ll just have to wait and see,” Cueto said ahead of Woodward’s April 11 squad announcement when he will name his 44-man party.
“All you can do is just keep your head down and play well for your club for three or four weeks until the squad gets announced,” Cueto added. But he admitted England’s modest form, which saw them finish fourth after defeats against Grand Slam champions Wales, France and Ireland were only partly offset by victories over Italy and Scotland, could have affected his chances.
