England call-up is a dream for Charlie

McGowan will be part of the England team that take on the Scotland Club XV in an international at Fylde tomorrow.

It will be McGowan’s first appearance for England Counties, after he had to pull out of the squad through injury last year.

He said: “It’s something that I have always wanted to try to achieve and, fortunately, I have managed to.

“It was such a nice phone call to receive when I got it and everyone is delighted for me.

“I did receive a call last year to represent the side but had to withdraw from the squad with an injury.

“I honestly felt that I had missed my opportunity at playing for the England Counties team then.

“But the call came around again and I can’t wait to get stuck into that now as it’s always been a dream of mine.

“Now that I have managed to come through the Cornish All Blacks game in one piece, I can turn my attentions to this one and I’m looking forward to it.”

McGowan’s previous representative honours include playing for the Barbarians in November, 2013. He played 55 minutes of a Remembrance Match against the Combined Services in Plymouth, with the Barbarians coached by former Raiders coach, Ian Davies.

The last Worthing player to represent England Counties was Kiba Richards last season. He played in a 16-15 defeat against France Federale and is now playing for National 1 side Rosslyn Park.

McGowan was part of the Raiders side that made it six successive home wins on Saturday, with a 25-13 victory against Cornish All Blacks in National 2 South.

Worthing remained fifth in the table and McGowan said: “It was another good home win. It was difficult for us at times to play the way we wanted as they (Cornish All Blacks) did all they could to prevent us from playing.

“The conditions did not really help us either with a sticky pitch but we managed to get over the line in the end and registered another league victory.”