Gibson certain to stay at Saints until end of season

That is because Gibson only returned to Saints last month alongside an announcement that Wood would miss the rest of the current season.

Gibson had left Saints at the end of June as his contract had expired, and boss Chris Boyd described the influential flanker’s departure as a ‘redundancy’.

It had been a frustrating consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic’s effect on clubs and the fact that the Premiership salary cap is to be significantly reduced.

Saints supporters were understandably sad to see Gibson go.

The 29-year-old has become a first-team fixture since arriving from local rivals Leicester Tigers in 2015.

Gibson has made 125 appearances in Northampton colours and appears to fit perfectly with the team’s style of play under Boyd.

With nine games of the Premiership regular-season still to go and a Champions Cup quarter-final at Exeter to look forward to, he is set to have a big impact on Saints’ bid for glory.

And the good news is that even if Wood, who is back in non-contact training after suffering with a pulmonary embolism in his lung, is able to make a welcome return before the conclusion of the campaign, Gibson will still be around until the very end of it.

Boyd said: “We’ve contracted him through to the end of October and we’ll wait and see where he’s at, where Woody’s at and we’ll wait and see what that situation looks like.

“Jamie is a particular individual. He’s a deep thinker of the game and he’s experienced so he adds that to the group.

“He’s just come back in and gone about his business but it’s nice to have him back and we’ll see how we go.”

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