England duo Courtney Lawes and Tom Wood have made a huge impact on their return to Northampton Saints, according to director of rugby Jim Mallinder.
Lawes and Wood were key members of the Red Rose squad that suffered a pool-stage exit from the Rugby World Cup.
The pair will be eager to make amends in an England shirt when the 2016 RBS 6 Nations rolls around but in the meantime, they have returned to action with Northampton.
Their impact was clear at the weekend, when the Saints bounced back from defeat to Worcester Warriors with a convincing victory over Newcastle Falcons.
Mallinder said: “We’re really pleased to have Courtney and Tom back. It made a big difference because they’re quality players.
“Sometimes it’s not easy fitting straight back into the system, but in the second half we saw the team gelling and playing as we wanted to.
“Courtney’s not played many games recently but he looked fit out there and got better as the game went on.” Lawes’ fellow lock Christian Day scored two tries and echoed the boss’ sentiments.
“It was good to have Courtney back,” said Day. “And Tom Wood leads from the front, leads by example.”
