Northampton Saints director of rugby Jim Mallinder has moved to ease fears that England will have to make do without three of his stars this autumn.
Despite securing victory over Bath on Saturday, Northampton had to do so without flanker Tom Wood and lock Courtney Lawes who both missed the game through injury, while prop Alex Corbisiero came off during the clash.
While Corbisiero missed the 2014 RBS 6 Nations with a knee injury, both Wood and Lawes featured heavily, starting all five games and England coach Stuart Lancaster will be looking for more of the same in their autumn internationals.
But despite the concern Mallinder believes they will all be available to Lancaster come November.
Of Wood, who was named in the starting XV to face Bath before being withdrawn late, Mallinder said: “He’s improved this week. He trained on Wednesday and then again on Friday and had a reaction from it.
“I’m hoping it’s not too bad. He could have played if we had put pressure on him, but it wasn’t the right thing to do. Hopefully he will be alright in the next week or two.”
And Mallinder is also not too concerned with the shoulder injury that saw Corbisiero come off against Bath.
“I don’t think it’s too bad. Hopefully it’s just a stinger,” he added.
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