Working with Saints Foundation so rewarding for Mallinder

And the Saints star has stressed the importance of donating to the charity during the current situation.

Mallinder is an ambassador for the Saints Foundation, which uses the power of sport and the values of rugby to drive positive change in young people.

He became heavily involved with the charity during the 15 months he spent out of first-team action due to injury.

And Mallinder would dearly love to be back helping youngsters, something he can't currently do due to the global Covid-19 pandemic.

"I'm actually missing that at the minute because I can't physically pop in to a session and get involved because the work that is still going on is obviously remote at the moment," Mallinder said.

"I miss it but I'm still keeping in touch with the guys.

"They're still carrying on, still doing the online classes and it's really good.

"Shirley (Malin), the HITZ officer, actually said the attendance has got better since they went into lockdown and, with all the time and space from doing something else, I guess they need something to do.

"It's really impressive work that the Foundation does and it's really important that they keep getting the donations so they can help the local community now and in the future."

One of the main aims of the Saints Foundation is to improve confidence and wellbeing in young people, facilitating a return to education, training and employment.

Mallinder has been particularly involved with HITZ, Premiership Rugby’s award-winning education and employability programme which works with more than 2,000 14 to 18-year-olds across England every year.

And when asked how he first became involved with the Foundation, the 23-year-old said: "Way before my injury, when Matt Goode was still at the club, that's how I got into it.

"Goodey asked me if I wanted to get involved and I first went to one of the HITZ awards ceremonies down in London and I presented an award to a girl called Kayleigh four or five years ago.

"It was so powerful to me that whole evening and I came away from it thinking I wanted to get involved in it.

"It was about a year or two down the line, since Jordan (Letts) and Catherine (Deans) have taken over, I realised I really wanted to get involved.

"When I was injured, I thought why not get stuck into this one day a week and give something back.

"It was just as rewarding for me as it was to those guys having me there and I actually get so much from it seeing the development of the kids.

"I went to the HITZ awards this year and Tyrell, one of the students, seeing his progression and him going onto that stage was brilliant.

"He didn't win his award but the way he held himself and answered questions was really impressive considering a couple of years ago he couldn't even look you in the eye.

"It's little things like that which put my injury and my tough times in the past couple of years into perspective."

To find out more about the work of the Northampton Saints Foundation, visit www.northamptonsaintsfoundation.org