Toby Flood says he is "really happy" to be back in action ahead of schedule following injury.

Strained knee ligaments suffered in the Aviva Premiership victory over Sale on New Year's Day could have ruled out the England fly-half for up to six weeks.

But Flood featured for most of the second half of Leicester Tigers' 24-13 win over Newcastle on Saturday just over a month after suffering the injury.

He has declared himself fit to play a full 80 minutes this weekend. And, rather than Tigers' match at Exeter Chiefs, he could be playing for England in the Six Nations against Italy.

He is due to meet up with the England squad at Pennyhill Park today.

Flood said: "The main thing is I am playing now and we will see how it goes. I'm feeling fine, I got a whack early on and there was a bit of tension and a few nerves but the body feels good.

"You don't want to get injured at any time, particularly when you are trying to get into your stride for the season and the knock on the knee seemed innocuous enough when I did it.

"But, a few hours after the game, it blew up, there was a lot of blood, a lot of swelling and it took a time to settle down.

"But I have had some great rehab here and I've got back a little quicker than I thought.

"We were looking at six weeks and it has been a month, which I am really happy about."

Flood admitted that Tigers will have to play a lot better against Exeter next weekend than their performance suggested against his old club at Welford Road.

He said: "We would have liked to have got a fourth try but I don't think it would have changed anything as to where we are in the group.

"You can't make excuses about the conditions. Newcastle made it very difficult for us.

"We will need to be better at Exeter but it's time to put this game to bed and not to dwell on the manner of how we won it."

Flood, though, has been impressed with the progress made by youngsters such as Sam Harrison, who have grown as Tigers have progressed in the competition.

He said: "Sam's progression has been fantastic and that's credit to him. He is a hard-working guy and the boys respect him massively.

"The youngsters had played really well at Harlequins and there were a lot of disappointed guys who wanted the shirt at the weekend, but they will work hard to get back and it also puts the pressure on the ones who wear the shirt."