Mallinder salutes Saints' England stars after clean sweep

Jim Mallinder has hailed Saints' England stars for completing a clean sweep in 2016.
Dylan Hartley has won all of his matches since taking over as England captain (picture: Sharon Lucey)Dylan Hartley has won all of his matches since taking over as England captain (picture: Sharon Lucey)
Dylan Hartley has won all of his matches since taking over as England captain (picture: Sharon Lucey)

And the director of rugby is now looking forward to getting the quartet back to add ‘a bit of impetus’ in the coming weeks.

Dylan Hartley has skippered England to 13 wins from as many matches during the calendar year.

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And Courtney Lawes, Tom Wood and Teimana Harrison have also played their part for the Red Rose.

All four men were involved in England’s impressive 37-21 victory against Australia at Twickenham on Saturday.

And Mallinder, whose Saints side were beaten 19-11 at Leicester later in the day, said: “The England lads have done really well and we’re delighted that they’ve got a clean sweep.

“But we’ll certainly look forward to getting them back because we need a bit of impetus.

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“We’ve had a lot of players away over these few weeks and it will be good to get them back.”

Saints host Leinster on Friday night in the first game of a Champions Cup December double-header against the Irish giants.