“I am an inside back,” Toby Flood says. Not a fly half, not a centre; an inside back, which is becoming a congested area for England. The likes of Flood, Danny Cipriani, Jonny Wilkinson, Olly Barkley, Shane Geraghty and Riki Flutey are queueing up to fill the positions at Nos 10 and 12 for the four November internationals, as well as those who are out of favour, such as Charlie Hodgson and Andy Goode.

Whether Cipriani and Geraghty will be in form and available this autumn is a moot point, given their injury setbacks. If they are not, as matters stand Wilkinson leads the way at fly half and the England selectors consider the No 12 jersey as a contest between Flood and Flutey, which will not make Barkley happy and will give him the motivation to stamp his authority over the Gloucester midfield when his wrist injury allows him to play.

Flood is doing the same in a new environment; just as well that a man bearing his name should head away from the North East, given his family's familiarity with the town of Morpeth, which has suffered so much from the recent bad weather. Instead, he is coming to terms with his removal from Newcastle Falcons to Leicester, to the demands of a city far more used to winning rugby's leading trophies than the Falcons have ever been.

Flood, Mathew Tait and Ben Woods were under contract to Newcastle at the end of last season, but David Thompson, the club's owner, had decided that cuts had to be made to allow for the arrival of players who would not be lost to England. Tait went to Sale Sharks, his two colleagues to Leicester, which, in Flood's words, was a “no-brainer”.

“There were other possibilities that never got past stage one, but you will always think seriously about one of the biggest clubs in the country,” he said.

Not that Leicester have made it simple for him. When he signed, they were coached by Marcelo Loffreda and Goode was their long-serving fly half. When Flood came back from England's tour to New Zealand in June, Goode had gone to Brive and Leicester had no head coach. Within a few days, the club had brought Heyneke Meyer from South Africa as Loffreda's replacement; within a few more days, Meyer had persuaded Derick Hougaard, the former Springboks fly half and his protégé, to leave the Blue Bulls in Pretoria and join him at Welford Road.

Flood, 23 but who has always seemed older than his years, is unconcerned. “This is when you begin to appreciate the older players in the squad, like Martin Corry, Ben Kay, George Chuter, the leaders who will always be influential, whoever comes in to coach,” he said. This is why he went to Leicester: there was the guarantee of Heineken Cup rugby and of a sustained challenge for domestic honours, which are attractive to an ambitious sportsman alongside the desire for self-improvement.

But there was also the winning ethos. “Whoever they play against, Leicester have that knowledge, that belief that they can win,” Flood said. “You know these guys won't give up, that they will go to the 80th minute and beyond. They know how to win, what they have to do, and that's very infectious. They're very hard-nosed, they're desperate to win and they know where to put themselves because they've done it before.

“At Newcastle, they knew how to do it, they got themselves into positions where they could win, but they couldn't close it out. I remember the Falcons leading Gloucester 20-3 at Kingsholm and losing, without even a bonus point.”

Flood will, though, remember Newcastle fondly, as the club who helped him to international recognition - 18 caps and rising - and theirs will be the first result he seeks.

Flood made a successful Guinness Premiership debut for his new club away to Gloucester last weekend and he will take his home bow in the competition against London Irish this afternoon. He has registered his first try, his first conversion and his first penalty goal for his new employers, he is growing accustomed to working with Paul Burke, the Leicester kicking coach, and has the chance to form a greater midfield understanding with Aaron Mauger, the former All Black who returns from a mild concussion to captain the side.

Flood discovered on tour in New Zealand what others have learnt before him - the hunger for victory that has kept the All Blacks at the top for so long. He is in a similar environment and knows that he has to do well for Leicester before higher honours are assured. The boy who grew a foot in his late teens is about to grow up even more.