Lawes revelling in Saints’ strength

Jim Mallinder’s men have started the season strongly, winning three of their first five Aviva Premiership games, sitting second in the standings.

They claimed a 19-19 draw at Leicester on Saturday, leading by 10 points before a late Tigers comeback denied them the win.

And imposing second row forward Lawes believes there is still much more to come from the current team.

“I don’t think we’ve had a team this good, powerful and organised for a long, long time,” said the 24-year-old, who is a product of the Northampton Academy.

“It certainly showed in the game against Harlequins as well; we’re winning and drawing a difficult places.

“We’re only going to get better as a team. We’ve got a lot of new faces and hopefully we can just keep it going and keep building.”

Lawes was deservedly named man of the match at Welford Road after an all-action display that scared the life out of Tigers.

The lofty lock has only missed one game this season - the defeat at Gloucester - and is enjoying the chance to shine in Saints’ title bid.

“I’ve been fit for a little while now, which is fantastic,” he said.

“I’m just improving as a player and hoping to reach my potential this year and really crack on.”