It's not often that one of the first names down on a team sheet is a reserve. But the form of Bulls impact specialist Paul Anderson this season has made him an automatic selection for tomorrow's first Think! Road Safety Ashes Test - even though he was automatically selected for the bench.

Prop Anderson - one of six players from the treble-winning Bulls side named in coach David Waite's 17-man squad - has just completed the best season of his career and is looking to carry that form onto the international stage.

Strangely, for a man who bristles slightly at being described as a bit of a slow starter in the game, the 32-year-old man-mountain admits a big factor in his form this season was getting off to a quiet start.

"In the early part of my career I had a lot of adversity with injuries and things like that," said Anderson.

"But I managed to just get on with it. If people say those things about me then all well and good, but I like to think that I've never let anyone down."

Anderson, along with Man of Steel Jamie Peacock, is the second Bulls player to credit an early-season injury with helping to keep him fresh throughout the latter stages of the season.

"I thought I started quite slowly but I've gradually come good," he said.

"I had no pre-season this season. After last season's Test series, I snapped my abductor. I had that repaired and basically came into the season on the back of a week's training, and it worked out great for me."

Anderson, Britain's stand-out player in their only warm-up match against New Zealand A, was keen to play down the performance, saying it had to be measured against the quality of the part-time opposition.

"I just got lucky a couple of times and things just came off for me," he said.

However, he did admit to enjoying scoring his first international try with his first touch of the match.

"Hopefully I can get another one tomorrow as well and double my tally. I've got a thing going with Joe Vagana and I'd just like to say I am seven-six up on him. It had been six all for the last five weeks."