DAN SCARBROUGH says he is bewildered why England have snubbed several of Saracens' homegrown players in favour of those from some of the Guinness Premiership's struggling clubs.

While competition for places in Brian Ashton's squad will always be fierce, the Men in Black's full-back-cum-winger is mystified why, on current form and consistency, he and the likes of Kevin Sorrell and Ben Skirving have not joined forces with Andy Farrell in representing the club on the current international stage.

Sarries fans, coaches and chief executive Mark Sinderberry have long been championing the cause of the trio, more so this season after playing their part in shaping the Men in Black into a serious Premiership force.

But when Ashton named his initial Six Nations squad last month there was an air of inevitability about it. Of seven of the teams below fifth-placed Saracens in the Premiership table, four of them had at least two players on England duty - third from bottom Newcastle had four backs in there alone - not that Scarbrough is saying those players don't warrant their inclusion, far from it.

But you would have to go back to before the 2003 World Cup when two Saracens players featured on the pitch together for England.

A winning team is borne of players on top of their game and Scarbrough, Sorrell and Skirving have certainly peaked this season. While he harbours no resentment of being denied the chance to add to his solitary England cap, Scarbrough and his out-of-favour compatriots will watch England's clash with Ireland on the bus journey home on Saturday evening wondering what else they have to do to feature in Ashton's immediate plans.

"You look at where we are in the league, the type of attacking rugby we're producing and the games we've won, I would have to agree that a lot of the English lads here (at Saracens) are being overlooked, such as myself, Kev and Skirvs," admitted the 29-year-old.

"There are a lot of players being picked from the bottom three or four sides in the league, which does make you think. It's frustrating but you can't sit there and dwell on it. We don't ask questions, we just get on with things."

While Scarbrough still hopes to pull on the white shirt again he admits his chances of doing so are fading fast because of England's policy of putting their faith in youth.

"I really love it at Saracens and if England want me I'm here and ready," he said. "But I believe England are looking towards youth at the minute and maybe they will look at that again after the World Cup.

"It's up to me to put myself in the shop window and make the selectors feel they can never not pick me. The same goes for the other guys here. I would like to think England select players on form and nothing else, but I don't worry about things I have no control over."

So what did he think of England's decision to throw team-mate Andy Farrell in at the deep end after playing just seven games at inside-centre for Sarries?

"Andy's got every attribute to be a world-class rugby player," he said. "He has a presence similar to Martin Johnson and is noisy, which is something I think both Saracens and England had been missing."

Some might say that England's reasons for keeping Scarbrough and Co out in the cold is due to the Men in Black's long-held tag as perennial underachievers. Scarbrough disagrees.

If anything, he feels their whirlwind season so far has gone a long way to shedding that unwelcome description, something which has in the past cast doubts over whether Saracens had the mental character to deliver performances that match the club's huge ambitions.

"Our mission statement at the start of the year was to change the perception of Saracens, change the vision people have of us to a successful, hard-working side, and I think we're well on our way to doing that after the season we've had so far," explained Bradford-born Scarbrough.

"This has been building for some time and we now have a settled side and stability on the coaching front and in the backroom staff. We know we're not the finished article yet but we're pulling together in the right direction and have to keep raising the bar as we go along."

Proof of how far Saracens have come, says Scarbrough, is the gritty, never-say-die wins over supposedly tougher teams like London Irish and Gloucester.

"We're getting a bit of momentum and winning teams tend to win the type of games like the one against Gloucester," he said.

"The win over London Irish was a big stepping stone for us and we've taken another big step with the win over Gloucester. We kept going right to the end because that is the way we think.

"The old Saracens of the past would have lost that game but we're now building on every win and there is a lot of confidence and trust in the squad.

"We're not saying we're going to go and win the Premiership - a top four finish is still a realistic aim and we want to take some silverware home and have a very good chance of doing that this season.

"We're not getting ahead of ourselves because every game from now until the end of the game is going to be tough."