“I was disappointed to miss out (against Samoa),” Wood told the EnglandRugby.com Podcast. “It wasn’t labelled a rotation or a rest for me – it’s because James (Haskell) has played so well and the coaches wanted to see what someone different could offer.
“I never want to forego a chance to run out at Twickenham but you have to get over it pretty quickly. I completely understood why the decision was made.
“The last thing you want is someone moping around, feeling sorry for himself and on his own agenda.
“This week I get the shirt and it just brings it into focus a little bit more that you’ve got to earn it every week.”
While last weekend’s game ended in a first autumn win for the Red Rose, Wood added that the side still feel they have plenty to prove having opened up with narrow defeats to New Zealand and South Africa.
“We want to finish on a high. We’ve poured so much into the first few weeks and have come in for a lot of criticism as individuals and as a team.
“We’ve not had the results we wanted, but we’ve poured our hearts and souls into it and we’ll be doing the same again on Saturday.
“It matters to us because we’re going out at Twickenham in front of 80,000 and representing our country. It matters because it’s Australia at home and I guarantee we’ll come out fighting.”
England versus Australia is a 2:30pm kick off on Saturday and is being shown live on Sky Sports 2 and Sky Sports 2HD.
