Jim Mallinder staying to finish his Leicester hunt

Jim Mallinder has revealed how the desire to break Leicester Tigers' hegemony and establish Northampton as domestic rugby's leading force persuaded him to snub the chance of coaching England two years ago.
In different circumstances, Mallinder might have thrown his hat in the ring for the England job when Martin Johnson resigned in 2012.
His qualifications were exemplary, having previously worked in the RFU's academy and coached England Saxons to success, before restoring pride at relegated Northampton by winning four lots of silverware.
Instead, club loyalty outweighed personal ambition and, as he approaches the business end of his seventh season, the Premiership's longest serving director of rugby is not casting envious eyes at Stuart Lancaster.
“No, I'm loving my time here,” Mallinder told The Rugby Paper when asked if he regretted not applying for the England job.
“When I came here I knew it was a big club not doing as well as it should have and that it had fantastic fans. The crowd here is unbelievable and I've grown to love the area, the people and the club.
“I've got no qualms over being here – and wanting to stay. Maybe when I'm old I'll be interested in international management, but all my focus is on Saints and more success for the people here.”
For Northampton folk, that means banishing dark memories of last season's Premiership final defeat to Leicester – a controversial day ruined by Dylan Hartley's sending off – and building towards a first league title.
“That's a massive motivation for us,” Mallinder admits. “We know it's going to be difficult and if you get to semi-finals and finals they become one-off games that come down to small margins, but we're in a great position.
“When I got here the club was in the Championship, so we made changes and, slowly, we've been improving throughout the club.
“People look at the first team results and that's important, but underneath that we've seen our squad develop, particularly the academy, and we're seeing the fruits of that coming through and playing in the first team.
“We've got guys away with England, but that gives opportunities to others and I've been really pleased with the emergence of guys like Tom Stephenson, Tom Collins, Jamie Elliott, the Waller brothers and Mikey Haywood.
“Good clubs benchmark themselves against others, like Leicester, and we think we've got a successful model in terms of recruiting experienced players and combining them with local lads. Get that balance right and it's a potent mix.”
The presence of five Saints in England's Six Nations 23, with Ben Foden and Alex Corbisiero to come in, is proof of Mallinder's success.
That, he insists, is where the real job satisfaction lies: “We want to win things, but you want to develop players, too, and Courtney Lawes, Dylan Hartley and Tom Wood are recognised to be in that top England starting team now.
“But it's particularly pleasing to see Luther Burrell proving he can play at international level. He's done really well for Northampton and shown he can play for England at No.13, which is credit to him.
All Mallinder needs now – and he knows it – is a major trophy or two to ice his painstakingly created Franklin's Gardens cake.
He added: “I don't know if ‘due' is the right word, we've got to earn everything we get.
“But if we can get towards the end of the season with a fit, competitive squad, then it gives us a chance to go on and win one, which is what we need.
“We've made good progress over the last few years and got to big finals without winning them, so we're looking forward to the run-in.”
NEALE HARVEY