Clarke excited by Saxons recall

Alex Clarke returns for the Saxons Churchill Cup clash (Getty)

Bristol prop Alex Clarke admits there will be one or two nerves when he lines up for the England Saxons against Ireland A in Toronto.

The 27-year-old has been named in place of the injured Saracens prop Nick Lloyd who has flown back to England.

"I'll be feeling slightly nervous," he told BBC Radio Bristol.

"There's a different set of forwards, a different set of players. But we've trained well this week and things have gone well."

He added: "I'm thrilled to be named in the starting line-up.

"Everyone wants to be involved. There's a few guys who aren't involved who are disappointed, so I'm chuffed to bits to be starting against Ireland."

Clarke says he has been keeping up with developments back home, where it has been an eventful few weeks at his club side Bristol.

"There's been quite a lot of stuff happening recently with Bristol with the ground not going through," he said, "so there's quite a lot of news coming out of Bristol at the moment.

"It will be quite interesting to see who's captain and who will be leading us out next year."