Sharks wing Steve Hanley returns after the midseason break with his latest online column.

It was good to get a bit of a break recently. It's not often you get two weeks like we have recently without any rugby at all.

The coaching staff had already told us at the start of the season that we'd be getting some time off so it gave us all time to plan something.

I managed to get in a long weekend in Prague and then visited a few mates so it was good to just take my mind off the game.

When we got back we were in for a treat though. Nick (Johnston) had us for a few days and really put us through our paces.

I've had what feels like flu this week though so I feel like rubbish at the moment and it doesn't look good for the Wasps game at the weekend.

I can't believe all the nonsense surrounding that game this week. I think England were putting unfair pressure on the clubs to rest players by announcing the team early.

It's pretty ridiculous that this argument is still going on, especially considering what (RFU director of elite rugby) Rob Andrew was like when he was at Newcastle. He wouldn't have released his players for England so he should understand why the clubs don't want to now.

All politics aside, I've actually quite enjoyed the Six Nations so far. England played really well against Scotland and deserved all the plaudits they got.

They couldn't get going against Italy but, to be fair, they're no mugs. They killed the ball, slowed it down and rushed up on defence so you have to give credit to them, they made it very difficult for England.

It was good to see both Robbo (Jason Robinson) and Magnus (Lund) playing well though, both of them are big time now.

Probably the most exciting game of the Six Nations so far was the Ireland v France game, both of them looked good and it was a really competitive match.

If England can win against Ireland next week it would set up one hell of a game against France.

Back to the game at the weekend, it's going to be one of the hardest games we'll face all season.

Wasps should have all their international players involved and they're always an extremely difficult side to beat.

We've got guys coming back in now though. Sheri is almost there and Cuets is back so we will be stronger than we were before the break.

I'm disappointed I've not been involved with the team as much as I would have liked of late. When I came in against the Ospreys I thought I did a decent job but I was left out at Gloucester.

With so many quality players here it's never easy to nail down a place in the team though so I'll just have to get my head down and prove I'm worth a spot.