'It's something England should be very excited about'

Following Northampton Saints’ sensational 42-36 comeback win over Exeter Chiefs in the Gallagher Premiership on Saturday, Brian O’Driscoll believes the England scrum-half debate has been put to bed with Alex Mitchell’s performance.

The 11-cap international started the match on the bench alongside a number of frontline Saints stars as the league leaders took on second-place Exeter at Sandy Park. The 26-year-old entered the action for the final half hour with his side trailing, but gathering momentum after initially going down 26-0. Within five minutes of playing he already had two assists to his name, including a sniping break to put Ollie Sleigtholme in for one of his three tries. Come full-time, he had three assists to his name, which included the match-winning try at the death.

Having not initially been in Steve Borthwick’s World Cup squad, Mitchell looks to now have an insuperable grip on the No9 jersey. After replacing the injured Jack van Poortvliet just days before the tournament started, Mitchell finished the World Cup campaign as England’s incumbent.

Joe Simmonds on his headspace at Exeter

Joe Simmonds on his headspace at Exeter

The state of play has changed significantly since August as well. Ben Youngs has now retired from Test rugby, the 37-year-old Danny Care may not feature in Borthwick’s plans going forward, and Mitchell’s competitors from the next generation of No9s, van Poortvliet and Raffi Quirke, are still injured. Ben Spencer may offer some competition, but he has not been part of the fold for a number of years now (not that that is a reflection of how he has played). Taking everything into consideration, Mitchell is all but guaranteed to start for England when their Six Nations campaign begins in February against Italy in Rome. But that should be the case on merit alone.

Speaking on TNT Sports following the epic Premiership clash in Devon, Ireland legend O’Driscoll feels the Saints star is by far and away England’s standout scrum-half, and showered him in praise, saying England “should be very excited” about the way he is playing. He did add the caveat that England may not necessarily play the game that suits him, as was seen in France last year.

“If there were any question marks over who England’s number one No9 was around World Cup time, well I think he’s putting it to bed at the moment,” O’Driscoll said.

“He came on on the 52nd minute and he immediately had a huge impact- be it around the variety to his game, his kick game was excellent, his variety was brilliant too, his passing game was spot on.

“He’s got an eye for a gap, he doesn’t need a second invitation. He runs that arc so well as many great scrum-halves have done. And then that acceleration capacity to be able to put his man outside him free is his point of difference and I think it’s something that England should be very excited about. The question mark is whether they are going to play the game that suits this guy.”