ALAN GAFFNEY believes England's decision to overlook his Saracens stars for the Six Nations has fired them up to a new level as the club go in search of an unprecedented treble.

Brian Ashton's World Cup finalists launch their challenge against an Ospreys-packed Wales at Twickenham tomorrow (Saturday) without a Saracen in sight.

The Men in Black are the only Premiership club left fighting for silverware in the league, EDF Energy Cup and Heineken Cup, but that doesn't seem to have washed with England.

Yet the club's director of rugby Gaffney, who has long championed his players' international credentials, reckons Ashton's snub could aid Sarries' quest for success while ending a barren decade at the same time.

In the side that beat Bath, there were no less than 12 players eligible to play for England while young homegrown replacements like Andy Kyriacou, Tom Mercey and Don Barrell have shown their importance to the cause.

It is understandable that some, if not all of Sarries' younger stars may have questioned what else they have to do to become red rose bearers, yet Gaffney insists their focus has shifted solely on producing the goods at club level first.

"There was a time where some players were saying how do I get in the England team?'," said the Aussie. "They wanted to know how to play well to get into the England set up. We've got them out of that mindset now.

"Once you get the horse back onto the cart the rest tends to follow. Now, it's a case of them asking how do I play well for Saracens to get into the England set up?'."

Gaffney has never spoken to Ashton and says his players are doing their own talking on the pitch on a regular basis, but he believes England will only drop their cold shoulder act when Sarries start bagging trophies.

"The likes of Nick Lloyd, Hugh Vyvyan and Kris Chesney have been described as journeymen, but week in, week out these guys are standing up and proving themselves," he added. "We'll become a more fashionable club when we become more successful."

Lloyd is the latest player to be talked up by Gaffney for England duty. The formidable loosehead prop has featured in several Scotland A training squads having qualified for the country through his grandmother. However, he was never handed a debut which means the England door remains ajar.

"Lloydy has been playing exceptionally well," commented Gaffney. "I'm not saying he should or shouldn't be in the England team but against Bath he marked Matt Stevens, who is the first or second best tighthead in England and Lloydy did a pretty good job there.

"At the weekend Nick displayed the fact there is not too much he is lacking. He gets around the field pretty well and his scrummaging has improved enormously.

"He has been our number one loosehead this season and both Kevin Yates and Matias Aguero have had limited game time because he has held his form. So, I can't see any reason why Lloydy would not be recognised by England or Scotland."

Gaffney also had kind words to say about another prop, Tom Mercey. The 20-year-old, along with Sarries centre Kevin Sorrell, helped England Saxons to Churchill Cup glory last year but the club's current Young Player of the Season has fallen out of favour since new coach Steve Bates took charge.

"I'm disappointed for Tommy," said Gaffney. "He has played for the Saxons for the last two years and all of a sudden he is excluded. I know we have some of the best tightheads in the world in Cobus Visagie and Cencus Johnston, but Tommy came on against Biarritz in France and did a good job marking (giant Romanian prop) Petru Balan.There was no doubt Tommy was put under pressure but he fought really hard in that game.

"He also came on against Biarritz at Vicarage Road and helped win us a penalty try late on. He hasn't been getting a lot of game time with us this season but there is a reason for that. It's maybe a problem we've brought on ourselves but I won't be rushing away from guys like Tommy Mercey in life."

It is not only the Men in Black's English players who are missing out on senior Six Nations action. Scotland fly-half Gordon Ross has proved to be a useful addition to the squad while hooker Fabio Ongaro was not considered by Italy.

Ongaro's exclusion was a godsend for Sarries, who have already lost first choice hooker Matt Cairns to a broken arm, leaving him and Kyriacou as the club's only recognised number twos.

After a shaky start, the Italian is growing in confidence and has started to look the part in the last three games.

"I think Fabio was really struggling six to eight weeks ago to where he is at now," Gaffney admitted. "His line-out throwing has improved enormously in the past few weeks and his work around the paddock against Bath was exceptional.

"He is finding the sort of form he enjoyed with Italy when he was regarded as one of the best hookers in the world.

"Kyriacou has also come a long, long way forward, so I'm pretty happy with the way things are in the hooker position."