Mallinder's joy over returning trio

Delighted: Jim Mallinder

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• Northampton

Northampton Saints boss Jim Mallinder has expressed his delight after George Pisi, Dylan Hartley and Ben Foden returned against Sale.

Mallinder's side ran out 27-16 winners over the struggling Sharks on Friday, finishing a dominant first half leading 27-3.

Pisi has been away on international duty with Samoa, whilst Hartley and Foden have both been sidelined due to injuries that forced them both to miss England's internationals.

"We had a number of lads returning from injury and it was fantastic to see Ben Foden, Dylan Hartley and George Pisi back. They all played well," said Mallinder to the Northampton Chronicle & Echo.

"Dylan Hartley is a leader, he leads from the front and he was dominant in that forward effort.

"Mikey Haywood has played well for us over the last few weeks, he's only a young lad. But Dylan's got that experience and it's good to have him around."

Foden's return after 10 weeks out ended a tricky period for Northampton, who have used various replacements at full-back but struggled without Foden's influence and security at the back.

"We've been unfortunate in that position because we've had four full-backs injured," added Mallinder.

"It happens in rugby, it happens in sport that quite often in one position you keep getting a number of injuries. We had that at full-back but clearly Ben Foden is world class.

"That was his first game back from an operation and he fitted in really well and he'll only get stronger and better now with that game under his belt."