England and Harlequins winger David Strettle is determined to prove Martin Johnson wrong for leaving him out of England’s Elite 32-man squad.

The 25-year-old wing was part of a star-studded Quins line-up that won the Middlesex Sevens for the first time in 18 years last saturday.

Strettle is determined to silence his critics following England’s summer tour of hell in New Zealand. “It’s very hard to fight your corner unless you are playing rugby - you want to do your talking on the pitch,” he said.

“I know how good a player I am. But it is very hard to fight your corner when you haven’t got the luxury in doing what you do best.

“But I’m still glad I went to New Zealand. Obviously a lot of stuff happened off the pitch, which I am glad is all cleared up now.

“It was very hard to handle, nobody wants to be put in that position. But it’s something I’ve learnt a hell a lot from, and I feel that I am a stronger person for it.

“People turn around and say like I shouldn’t have gone because now I’m in the Saxons squad.

“But I don’t want to be 60 or 70, sitting on my sofa telling my grand kids that I could have gone to New Zealand but didn’t.

“You play rugby to play at the highest level that you can, and if someone offers me a tour against arguably the world’s best team on their pitch, I’m going to take it.”

Strettle can’t help but to think that his relegation from the full England squad to the Saxons has a lot to do with the off-the-pitch happenings in New Zealand rather than his form.

He featured in the 2007 Six Nations but was kept out of most of this year’s tournament with injury.

But having scored six tries as Quins romped to the Middlesex Sevens title at Twickenham, Strettle reckons he is back to his best.

He said: “It wasn’t through form, from my point of view. It wasn’t like I was playing badly. I just didn’t have the chance to play well.

“I only had six minutes on the pitch against Wales, and I think I could have impressed in that game.

“I’d just had the rest of my Six Nations robbed, so what do I do - sit there and accept someone else is going to try to keep my England shirt?

“I firmly believe that, as a player, you want to put yourself in a position where the coaches can not say no, because there would be uproar if you are not in the side.

“If you get 32 players that pick themselves it’s like the 2003 World Cup - you know the starting line-up already and could just photocopy it and give it out the next game.

“As a player, I have to put myself in a position where the coach doesn’t have to think if they should pick me, that it’s a pleasure to do it.”