Saints suffer blow as Tom Wood ruled out due to leg fracture
Tom Wood the flanker for Northampton Saints has been ruled out of the upcoming Heineken Cup clash on Saturday against Leinster.
The reason for being sidelined is his hairline fracture on his right leg. With the last stages on their way, this came out as a blow for the Saints.
Wood picked up this badly timed and unnecessary injury in April, while playing against Gloucester. The English forward was recently named as the Player of the year for Aviva Premiership.
Jim Mallinder, the director of rugby for Northampton Saints gave out his official statement today.
He said, “Tom is out. He trained yesterday with the team but its one week too soon. Tom is not 100 per cent fit. He's very, very close and I guess if we were a desperate team we could have taken the chance with him.”
Mallinder believes that they will not take the risk by getting him in the squad and he believes that the current squad is strong enough to go in the field without him. Mallinder insisted on the capabilities of his side and gave out strong comments on the
strengths of Saints.
On the other hand, it can’t be avoided that this is a major blow for the Saints. He said, “It's a big blow but when you get to this stage of the season with only one player out, then you'd probably take it.”
Mallinder made a point that Saturday’s match will decide the fate of the club in the off season clashes. Millennium Stadium will once again witness the fight for glory and consistency. The confidence of Saints is peaking at the moment and they are not looking
forward to a loss and end the season without grabbing that trophy.
Mallinder said, “You always have to have a winner and a loser and we aren't daft enough to think otherwise. It has been a good season for us. We talk about learning lessons and the experience of playing in big games. And we know we will have a squad that
will be together next year, whatever happens on Saturday.”
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