Newcastle Falcons’ Cumbrian flanker Mark Wilson is feeling refreshed ahead of the Gallagher Premiership season.

Wilson, who began playing junior rugby in Penrith, is looking forward to the start of the 2018/19 league season after being one of England’s players to emerge with credit from their June tour to South Africa, which ended in a 2-1 defeat.

The 28-year-old admits it has been good to have a break ahead of Falcons’ opening pre-season friendly against Nottingham next Saturday.

He said: “It has been good to go away and have a bit of a refresh after the tour.

“I’ve been doing a bit of conditioning while I have been away, so it has been more a case of getting up to speed with the rugby stuff. I’ve come back in now and the lads are in great shape, so we’re just looking to develop ourselves and our game for the season ahead.”

Wilson says he enjoyed his time with England in South Africa, but the Kendal-born man is now committed to helping the Falcons kick-on from their highest league finish in two decades.

“We keep growing each season and it’s a gradual progress,” Wilson said to the club website.

“To be fair to [director of rugby] Dean Richards, he was clear from day one when he came into the club six years ago.

“He said it wasn’t going to be an overnight job and that it would take a good few years to get to where we wanted to be, which was top-six and top-four.

"The players all realised it was going to be a long-term thing and we’ve improved every year. It hasn’t been wholesale change, we’ve added a little bit every season and we’ve kept the same core together.”

And, after seeing an influx of signings, including Logovi’i Mulipola, Johnny Williams and former Carlisle Rugby Club man Guy Graham ahead of the new campaign, Wilson added: “We’re in a position now whereby we have a group of guys who really want to play for Newcastle.

“A lot of them are local lads and it means a lot to all of us.

"That was evident in the many tight games we won last year, we dug out results when our backs were against the wall, and then as well as that local nucleus, you’ve got your stardust with the finishers and creators who have come in from elsewhere.

“It’s a good mix and it was no surprise to us that we got into the top-four last season.

“The good thing with coming back in this week is that there hasn’t been a load of new faces. It’s back into the swing of it and we don’t need to reinvent the wheel.

“It’s a case of backing up what we did last year, it’s little tweaks rather than drastic changes and we’re constantly striving to get better.”

Wilson has been named in the England training squad for the Autumn internationals.