Northampton Saints confident on England trio's injuries

Tom Wood has 30 caps for England

Northampton Saints boss Jim Mallinder does not expect injuries to Tom Wood, Courtney Lawes and Alex Corbisiero to affect their England availability.

Flanker Wood and lock Lawes missed Saturday's win over Bath, while prop Corbisiero came off during the game.

If fully fit, all three would be expected to be involved in England's autumn internationals in November.

Mallinder told BBC Radio 5 live that Corbisiero and Lawes should be fit to face London Irish this weekend.

Wood, 27, trained last week and had initially been named in the starting XV to face Bath, but he and Lawes were late withdrawals with back and shoulder injuries respectively.

Mallinder said of Wood's condition: "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."

Corbisiero, 26, missed much of the second half of last season with a knee injury, but Mallinder was not too concerned with the shoulder injury that saw him come off against Bath.

"I don't think it's too bad. Hopefully it's just a stinger," he said.

England head coach Stuart Lancaster has already lost three front-rowers for the autumn series, with Leicester hooker Tom Youngs (shoulder) joining Tigers team-mate Dan Cole and Saracens' Mako Vunipola on the sidelines.