Lee Mears knows he must reproduce his club form on the international stage this autumn if he is to see off the challenge of rising star Dylan Hartley.

Northampton's Hartley is in line to win his first cap from the bench when England take on the Pacific Islands at Twickenham this afternoon, while Bath hooker Mears has been handed his eighth Test start.

Mears has won 25 caps in total but has only recently taken over as England's first-choice hooker, starting the last two matches of their 2008 Six Nations Championship campaign as well as both summer Tests in New Zealand.

But now he has another rival to compete with in 22-year-old Hartley – and knows he needs to replicate his Bath form at Twickenham over the coming four weekends.

"My goals for the autumn are fairly straightforward: to try to recreate some of my Bath form on the international arena," said the 29-year-old. "If we can play like we do at Bath then I know I will enjoy my rugby – and if I can personally play as well as I do at Bath then I will keep my spot.

"That is my aim for the four games that are coming up: to try to produce what I do at Bath on the international field. I think I have shown glimpses of it in the past but international rugby is a lot harder than club rugby and I have come up against some top-quality teams.

"I may not have started many Tests, but the games I have started have been against New Zealand, Australia, Ireland and South Africa among others – and those are all top sides.

"Dylan is a very talented player and having him pushing is the sort of thing you need to keep you on your toes. I am sure he will come through in the next few years."

And Mears is delighted to be starting the first of the autumn Tests, rather than coming in midway through as he did in last season's Six Nations, the 2006 autumn series and the Six Nations in the same year.

"In the past, I have tended to get the No 2 shirt towards the end of the tournament or the series," said Mears.

"It was great to cap off the Six Nations with a win against Ireland last season, but then all of a sudden it was gone and you have to start all over again.

"I went to New Zealand and got the starts, but that was with a different England team, so hopefully I am going to get a lot more continuity over the next few weeks and then go from there.

"The longer you can keep the shirt, the better it is, but it's all about consistency now.

"It's nice to know that I am starting alongside Matt Stevens and throwing to Steve Borthwick, but I have also got to build relationships with Nick Kennedy and Andrew Sheridan, which I have been doing since the squad met up."

Mears has already come face to face this season with the man who will be his opposite number today, Worcester's Aleki Lutui, and came out on top against the Tongan as Bath won 37-19 at the Recreation Ground in September.

And Mears' former mentor Mark Regan, who won 46 caps for England and started the 2007 World Cup final, says the time has come for the Bath man to make the No 2 shirt his own.

"Lee is now a full-on senior player – and he has got to play like one," said Regan.

"He is not the new kid on the block, he has got 20-odd caps, and he really has step up to the plate, which I know he can do. This is his time and he has to prove that."

England: D Armitage (London Irish); P Sackey (Wasps), J Noon (Newcastle), R Flutey (Wasps), U Monye (Harlequins); D Cipriani (Wasps), D Care (Harlequins); A Sheridan (Sale), L Mears (Bath), M Stevens (Bath), S Borthwick (Saracens, capt), N Kennedy (London Irish), T Croft (Leicester), T Rees (Wasps), N Easter (Harlequins). Reps: D Hartley (Northampton), P Vickery (Wasps), T Palmer (Wasps), J Haskell (Wasps), M Lipman (Bath), H Ellis (Leicester), T Flood (Leicester).

Pacific Islands: K Ratuvou; S Tagicakibau, S Rabeni, S Mapusua, V Delasau; P Hola, M Raulini (capt); J Va'a, A Lutui, C Johnston, F Levi, K Leawere, S Naevo, N Latu, F Maka. Reps: S Koto K Pulu H T-Pole, G Stowers, S Martens, S Bai, E Taione.