Luther Burrell has a lethal mix that England need – Alex King

Luther Burrell should be England's starting No.12 during the Six Nations, according to Northampton backs coach Alex King.
With Billy Twelvetrees struggling for form at Gloucester and Kyle Eastmond failing to fully convince at Test level, King believes Burrell's growing maturity and powerful skill-set makes him the ideal man to lead the Red Rose charge.
Burrell has yet to start for England in his favoured No.12 position, having previously appeared six times at outside-centre.
But King told The Rugby Paper: “I was surprised he didn't get an opportunity in the autumn. The hand injury just before didn't help but Luther's an important player for us and if he carries on his form, he won't be far away.
“I'd play him at 12 for England and use him for his skill-set, which is his size, strength, power and speed. As long as you can balance that with the right players around him, I think you'll have a very good combination.”
After struggling to establish himself in the Premiership during previous spells at Leeds and Sale, the rapidly maturing Burrell, 27, has been a key figure in the Saints midfield since arriving at Franklin's Gardens in 2012.
“It's Luther's consistency of performance that marks him out,” said King. “He's become an on-field leader both in defence and attack and his attributes speak for themselves.
“His ball-carrying, his footwork and his speed are up there with the best in the Premiership and I hope he carries on that form because I want to see him in an England strip.
“He belongs there now. Before he came here he had a couple of clubs where things didn't quite work out, but we appreciate what he's doing for us and how he's responded. He works incredibly hard on his extras after training and is really important for us.”
King, meanwhile, feels Saints have reached the mid-point of their season in good shape to mount a strong defence of their Premiership title.
Having won three Premiership titles in succession with Wasps between 2003 and 2005, the former fly-half knows what it takes to create a dynasty and hopes Saints can add the Champions Cup to their burgeoning trophy collection.
But he cautioned: “Nothing's achieved yet and January's a massive month, with a big league game at Sale and crucial European matches against Ospreys and Racing Metro to determine whether we reach the quarter-finals.
“Creating dynasties like Wasps and Leicester did gets harder and harder now because other teams recruit strongly and everybody's vying for that Premiership title, but the boys have responded well to the challenge.
“It's important when you achieve goals that you reset them for the following year and this team's ambitious to win more things.
“Jim Mallinder's built a great squad over the last seven or eight years and we're seeing the fruits of that now.
“There's real continuity, our academy's really producing the goods under Dusty Hare and there's good depth. Competition for places is now huge, so when guys get an opportunity to wear the Northampton shirt they have to do it justice to keep it.”
Saints are the top-flight's leading try-scorers with 42 touchdowns in 11 games, but that did not prevent Brian Moore branding them “un-entertaining” after last week's 30-25 win over Harlequins.
King's riposte? “You're here to win rugby matches and some weeks we entertain, like we did at the Gardens against Leicester – arguably one of the greatest Premiership games ever!
“We'd like to recreate that every week but unfortunately not every game can be like that.”
NEALE HARVEY