Jim Mallinder believes that Calum Clark can only benefit from the time he is spending with the England squad despite so far failing to force his way into the reckoning when it comes to earning a spot in the matchday squad.
The Northampton Saints back row is currently spending Monday and Tuesday at Pennyhill Park with the rest of Stuart Lancaster’s Six Nations squad before returning to his club for the rest of the week.
Clark captained the Saints as they booked their place in the LV= Cup semi-finals with a 57-10 win over London Wasps last Saturday and is set to lead the side again when they face Gloucester at Kingsholm in the league this weekend.
Mallinder said: “I think with someone like Calum it’s good really because he’s enjoying the experience of being with England. He’s enjoying going there and showing the coaches what he can do, so he is training very hard on a Monday and Tuesday.
"He’s putting his hand up and he is just waiting for that opportunity. He knows he is not a long way off and he just needs to keep showing in training what he can do with England and then playing well for us at a weekend, and I’m sure his time will come.”
Two of his Northampton team-mates did make their debuts in Saturday’s Calcutta Cup victory over Scotland at Murrayfield. Phil Dowson started the game, while Lee Dickson came on as a second half substitute.
Mallinder was pleased with how the two performed, saying: “Lee Dickson, for his little stint, came on and did well so he’ll be pleased. Dows made a couple of errors but generally I thought his game was sound. He put in a big defensive performance, put in a lot of tackles, so generally it was good.
“I think England will be pleased with the win. I guess they didn’t really play as well as they could do, they didn’t attack too much and their attacking opportunities were limited.
“But they defended really well and even though Scotland made a few line breaks, the scrambling defence was good and I guess they’re delighted to get that first win under their belts.”
They will both be hoping to be involved again on Saturday along with Ben Foden, Chris Ashton and Dylan Hartley when
England take on the Italians at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico.
Before that evening clash, Northampton are in Aviva Premiership action during the afternoon away to Gloucester, looking to build on last weekend’s impressive eight-try win over Wasps.
They will be boosted by the return of Ryan Lamb and Paul Doran Jones from international duty with the England Saxons – both of whom previously played for the Cherry and Whites.
Director of rugby Mallinder also revealed that Courtney Lawes could play some part in the game after returning to training this week, but Tom Wood is still a couple of weeks away from playing as he is still wearing a protective boot on his injured foot.
As well as that, Brett Sharman’s season-ending knee injury has seen Northampton sign up hooker Ross McMillan on a short term deal following a trial spell with the club.
Gloucester currently sit eighth in the league, but Mallinder is wary of their dangers, saying: “It’s vital that we pick up some points. What we don’t want to do is go through without any wins because that will put us under massive pressure to get into that top four at the end of the season, which is where we want to be.
“We don’t want to have to rely on our internationals when they come back from the Six Nations.
“We’re in third but you look at the table but it’s very close in terms of points difference, so there are a number of clubs – certainly Gloucester are one – that are capable of getting into that top four.”
