Saints flanker Wood confident he will be fit to face Castres

The England flanker was withdrawn after 73 minutes of Sunday’s 29-17 Heineken Cup victory at Ospreys.

Wood limped off having taken a bang to his knee, with Sam Dickinson coming on in his place.

But the 27-year-old was in optimistic mood at Tuesday’s press day and believes he will be able to make his mark in Saints’ next European encounter.

“I’m feeling pretty good,” said Wood. “When you’ve got quality players on the bench, there’s no point me going to the death.

“I was carrying a bit of a bang on my knee but I think it was more impact than anything.

“It rattled my knee joint a little bit, there was a little bit of swelling after the game and I was perhaps a yard or two off the pace trying to get into the defensive line and trying to chase kicks.

“It was evident I was limping a little bit so we just made the call.

“I was in a little bit of pain with it so they just got me off the field and got some fresh legs on, particularly with us pushing for the bonus point at the end.

“Me being lame out there was no good when we could bring someone else off the bench.

“I’ve iced it a lot over the last couple of days, had some treatment from the physios here and, although I’m still carrying it a little bit, we’re still pretty optimistic I’ll be fine for Friday.”