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Dubai: Dan Luger is launching his bid to break into the England team at next year's Commonwealth Games by playing for St George in the International Invitation event at the Dubai Sevens. The 30-year-old winger cheerfully admits to being "the old man of the team" but is relishing the chance to play for what is virtually an England second string and stake his claim after a period on the sidelines. Luger, a member of England's World Cup winning squad in 2003, then spent two years in France playing for Perpignan before deciding to develop business interests in his family's home nation of Croatia.
The former Harlequins winger was beginning to drift away from rugby, but after recovering from a long-term knee injury decided to return to the game. "It's hard work and sometimes I think 'why am I doing this' because I've achieved more in rugby than I ever dreamed of," he said. "The World Cup was amazing. My first game for England was against South Africa when we stopped them from setting a record for winning consecutive games, and I was also involved in a Grand Slam." "But it's great. I'm having a lot of fun with the boys and it's good to be involved." Luger narrowly missed out on selection for the full England sevens squad competing in the opening leg of the IRB World Series in Dubai but, at this stage, is content just to be playing and working on his match fitness. "Six weeks ago I hurt my back because I hadn't been running for a while and it reacted," he said. "I'm not fully match fit but I'm starting to get there."
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