Harlequins tighthead prop Simon Kerrod is keen to continue his upward trajectory with the club after a agreeing a new long-term contract with them.

Kerrod is in his second season with Quins, during which he was called into the England squad ahead of the Autumn Nations Cup.

He will make his 40th appearance for them in Saturday's home game against Gloucester, after being named in Quins' starting line-up.

The 28-year-old, who began his career in his native South Africa with Eastern Province Kings, initially signed ahead of the 2019/20 campaign from Worcester Warriors, where he had spent the previous two seasons.

They were his first Gallagher Premiership club, having played for Jersey Reds the season before in the Greene King IPA Championship, English rugby's second tier.

Kerrod said: "I think I've developed a lot over the last two years and that's testament to the coaching set-up here.

"It's by far the best club I've been at, definitely [when it comes to] growth personally and my rugby - that's going just one way and that's up.

"I've been very fortunate to get those opportunities and take them and it is nice to constantly be involved and have that trust, but it's also on me to continue performing, so it's like a two-way street."

On his experience with the England set-up, Kerrod said: "I was there for two weeks or so and it was really good to have that step up and the recognition for the work I've been putting in here.

"I do want to push on and achieve higher honours, but that's just going to come down to me performing."

Kerrod is one of six changes Harlequins have made to the team to face Gloucester from the one that narrowly lost 21-20 at champions Exeter Chiefs last Saturday.

He forms part of a new-look front row alongside Jordan Els and Joe Gray, with Joe Marler, Scott Baldwin and Wilco Louw among the replacements after starting at Sandy Park.

Dino Lamb comes into the second row to replace injured skipper Stephan Lewies, while in the backs, Luke Northmore is in for Ben Tapuai.

Meanwhile, his fellow centre Andre Esterhuizen returns in place of Joe Marchant, who was named on England's bench for their Six Nations match with Ireland.

Ahead of the game, attack and backs coach Nick Evans said: “It’s great to be heading back to The Stoop this week. We’ve had a good week’s prep off the back of defeat last week in Exeter.

“While we were disappointed not to take the win, the result gave us a lot to reflect on, and we feel we’ve taken a lot of positivity away from it.

"We’re looking forward to putting that into practice on Saturday."