Alex Mitchell: Northampton Saints scrum-half not taking England place for granted
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Alex Mitchell scored one of Northampton's tries in last weekend's win over Exeter Chiefs
Northampton scrum-half Alex Mitchell is taking nothing for granted regarding his England place as he looks to help keep Saints winning in the Premiership.
The 26-year-old was first-choice number nine for head coach Steve Borthwick at the World Cup in France.
But he knows he has to keep performing at club level in order to add to his 11 caps in the Six Nations in February.
"Being involved in the World Cup and playing a fair amount was a dream come true," he told BBC Radio Northampton.
"I loved it but you can't take it for granted, you've got to keep performing for your club and internationally to keep playing, so I've got to appreciate that and keep getting better."
Mitchell played his first game since the World Cup on Sunday and scored a try as Saints beat Exeter Chiefs 34-19 at Cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens.
"To get a performance and five points against a strong Exeter side was a great way to come back," said Mitchell, who joined Saints from Moseley in 2017.
"In myself, I'm not too different [after the World Cup]. I've got to put my game out there, keep performing for the Saints and get the team to tick.
"I just need to keep my head down, stay focused with Saints and hopefully get us some more wins to push the top four, if not the top two."
Alex Mitchell started all but one of England's games during the World Cup in France
Tom James and teenager Archie McParland shared scrum-half duties for Northampton while Mitchell was away in France, and he believes their advance is good news for the club.
He said: "TJ was great and Archie, the young lad coming through, has been fantastic - it's great to see them doing so well and the competition makes me better, makes them better, and also helps with the rotation to keep boys fresh.
"We've got a lot of positions like that at the moment which is great for the squad."
Next up for Northampton is the 252nd East Midlands derby against Leicester Tigers at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.
Saints have won three of their five Premiership games so far, while Leicester find themselves ninth in the table with just one victory to their name.
Despite that, Mitchell expects Tigers to once again make it a full-on contest.
"These are the big games, these are the ones you want to play in and I'm massively excited. Whether it's here or at Welford Road, the atmosphere is normally amazing, and the buzz throughout the week, you feel it," he said.
"It's derby day, it's normally a sellout, obviously the atmosphere is louder and they are a really top side. We know it's going to be a really tough battle."
He added: "I think we've got a really good balance to our game. We want to move the ball, but also we need to play in the right areas and our kicking game [against Exeter], I think we did a really good job of that.
"Hopefully it's going to be difficult for sides to play against us, because we have a good balance of our strategies and it's tough to defend everything."