Mitchell can put full focus on Saints ahead of 'huge' games

The talented young scrum-half has recently been training with England during their Autumn Nations Cup campaign.

But he was not called upon by the Red Rose and was regularly released to rejoin Saints for Gallagher Premiership games.

However, with England's autumn campaign now over, Mitchell can put all of his attention on helping Saints to end their 10-match losing streak.

And he believes consistently being at Franklin's Gardens will benefit him.

“It's been a different experience - it's my first time doing it,” Mitchell said when asked what it's like to train with England and then play for Saints.

“You've got to go there, do the meetings, learn the moves and then come back into the Saints team straightaway, which has been tough.

“But my main focus is Saints and it's our job to do that and play on the weekend.

“It's something you've got to get used to and hopefully I will do in time.

“It's a good challenge trying to do both.

“There's a lot of things you've got to think about and it will stand me in good stead for the future.

“But for now it's definitely good to be focusing on Saints because the next few games will be huge.

“I can put my head into that and hopefully try to get a win with the boys.”

Saints would love that win to come on Friday night as up to 2,000 fans return to Franklin's Gardens for the Champions Cup opener against Bordeaux-Begles.

But it really should have happened at Bristol last week as Saints led from the eighth minute to the 80th before being undone by a late Sam Bedlow penalty.

“A lot of boys are frustrated at the moment, not being able to get that win, but it's not all doom and gloom,” Mitchell said.

“We've still got a positive feel at the club and we're seeing where we're going wrong.

“We know it's there and we literally just need to get that win and hopefully it's like dominos and they will just keep coming.

“It's not too bad at the club and for me personally, it's not all doom and gloom.”

Mitchell believes the tough times Saints are currently experiencing will benefit them in future.

“It's challenging, it's a frustrating time but we'll learn from this and I definitely think a win will come soon,” he said.

“When it does, hopefully we've taken all the learning from the losses.

“We know how painful a loss is so we can emphasise how important winning is and hopefully we can get back on a winning streak.”

Individual errors have been blamed so often for the sobering run of defeats.

But Mitchell said: “We're quite comfortable to have a relationship where we call each other out where we need to, but if we make an error or a mistake we can pick each other up and go 'next job'.

“We've been pretty good at it and we're getting better every week at it.”

After three defeats at the start of the Premiership season, Saints are now hoping Europe can bring welcome relief.

And Mitchell said: “It's a nice mix from the Prem to come into Europe and it's a new challenge.

“It will be very interesting and Bordeaux and Leinster are huge challenges so it will show us where we're at.

“If we do get a win, we can hopefully take that momentum back into the Premiership.

“We've got a few players coming in to strengthen the side with their leadership and experience.

“As a squad we've just focused on our individual jobs and we need to push on and get a result this week.”