Mallinder praises Saints subs after pair suffer injury blow
Jim Mallinder has hailed Ben Nutley and Tom Kessell for ensuring Saints didn't suffer after losing two senior players early on at Worcester on Friday night.
Skipper-for-the-night Sam Dickinson and last season’s club captain Lee Dickson were both forced off inside the opening 25 minutes at Sixways.
But flanker Nutley and scrum-half Kessell made impressive impacts from the bench, and were eventually two of Saints’ better performers in an 18-17 win.
And Mallinder said: “I was really pleased with both of those.
“You don’t want to make early replacements if you can help it, but Ben and Tom came on and played a very big part in our success.”
And when asked about the nature of the injuries sustained by Dickinson and Dickson, Mallinder said: “They’re both a little bit sore.
“We don’t know the extent of the soreness, but Sam Dickinson’s hurt his knee - he got his studs trapped in the surface.
“Lee Dickson took a blow to his ribs.”