While Croft had previously become a key figure in Martin Johnson’s set-up, he admits flankers Tom Wood and James Haskell have performed perfectly well in his absence.

And the 25-year-old maintains the RBS 6 Nations are out of sight and out of mind until he is 100 per cent ready to make his international comeback.

"My focus now is playing for Leicester,” he said. “I got 20 minutes in this game and hopefully I can have more game time next week and get back to fitness and into the swing of things, just get back into the Leicester way of things and go from there.

“Martin Johnson kept tabs on me to see how I was doing but the England team are going well and have had two great wins from two games.

“Tom Wood has come into the team and played extremely well, (James) Haskell has played well and the back row have functioned well.

“As far as I am concerned what makes me happy is playing for Leicester, I would feel nervous if I was called up (for England) after just 25 minutes. I just need to get back playing regularly.

“It's been very frustrating. I thought I would be back a lot sooner but small things push you back that extra week. But we have great medical staff at Leicester, who have got me back strong enough to play and I did not feel it at all during the game.

“It's great to be back. It's been a long time since I last played and I was away with England before that. So it's good to be back in Leicester colours and on a winning side.”