London Irish scrum-half Paul Hodgson has done enough to gatecrash his way into England's Six Nations clash with France in Paris on Saturday according to his club's boss Brian Smith.

"I think Paul Hodgson today played himself into the England 22," said Smith, whose side's 22-13 victory stopped Leicester Tigers going top of the Guinness Premiership.

Hodgson, named in the England training squad with Harlequins veteran scrum-half Andy Gomarsall and Sale youngster Richard Wigglesworth, turned in a man-of-the-match performance.

Smith said: "There's three blokes currently in the running and, for me, Dodger's jumped ahead of one of them.

"There's been some question marks about the other scrum-halves' form and if Brian Ashton saw his performance today, it was courageous.

"When you go to France you're going to need people to front up and I think - dangerously for our club because we need him - that he's played himself into the England 22."

He insists he will have no worries if England coach Ashton plunges Hodgson into the international cauldron in Paris.

"Paul Hodgson's not being thrown into anything. He's played over 100 first class games and, arguably, half the Premiership games are more intense than half the Six Nations games.

"He's very well matured, a great rounded player and he's got more experience than one of the scrum-halves there and a lot more legs than the other bloke. I think he deserves his chance," said Smith.

If the call comes from Ashton, Hodgson is confident he is ready.

"There's already two very good scrum-halves in the squad. All I can do is put in the sort of performances I have all season and hope for the best.

"I know it's a big step up but people have got to make it sometime and I'm sure I'm more than ready."

Smith revealed that he has spoken to Ashton three times in the last week about Hodgson and Shane Geraghty, his 21-year-old fly-half or centre, who is also part of the provisional squad.

But Geraghty's immediate England hopes could have suffered a blow after he was taken off in the 34th minute with a knee injury.

Toby Booth, the London Irish assistant coach, said: "He has hyper-extended his knee.

"The swelling continued through the match and it got to the stage where it wasn't worth the risk."

He admitted: "There was an element of precaution," but pressed on Geraghty's chances of being involved with England this week, added: "It's too early to say."

With leaders Gloucester going down 29-26 at Bristol, Leicester's defeat meant they had blown their chance of taking over at the top of the Premiership.

Head coach Marcelo Loffreda said: "Many things went wrong. When we had the ball we didn't keep the possession. We lost it very easily.

"I think there was a lack of concentration in some basic things. We should deal with them better than today.

"There were times in the first half when we should have scored and didn't and you pay a high price for that. Then, because of desperation, we gave away too many penalties."

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