Northampton Saints coach Jim Mallinder is adamant Tom Wood has the ability and leadership skills to lead England this season.
With Stuart Lancaster opting to rest the likes of Chris Robshaw and Toby Flood for England’s summer tour to Argentina, Wood led the tourists to back-to-back Test wins over the Pumas. Stuart Lancaster is yet to decide on the man to captain England this term but Wood will be hopeful of landing the role.
When Lancaster first took over England, Wood looked set to be the man to skipper the new-look side into the 2012 Six Nations. But injury cut short those hopes.
However, following Wood’s impressive performances in the summer, it looks to be a straight shootout between the Saints flanker and Robshaw for who will captain England this term. Northampton boss Mallinder has picked Dylan Hartley as his skipper for the forthcoming season but he believes Wood is the right man to captain England.
“I think he’d be a brilliant choice,” Mallinder told the Northampton Chronicle. “Everybody respects Tom, what he says and what he does, and if Stuart were to pick him as captain he’d do a really good job for them.
“Tom’s been brilliant. I guess he was disappointed not to go with the Lions, but that didn’t affect him in his outlook of wanting to play for England and do well. I know from speaking to Stuart Lancaster, he was very, very impressed with the job that Tom did.
“So in terms of us as a club that’s brilliant, that we’ve got leaders like that. We’ve got Phil Dowson, Lee Dickson’s a real good leader on the field, Kahn Fotuali’i is a leader. They’re the types of players we need in the team. We need as many leaders as we possibly can.”
Mallinder backs Wood for England captaincy
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