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• Sale

Players

• Magnus Lund

Philippe Saint-Andre has backed Magnus Lund to embark on a bright international future after the young flanker was called into England's summer squad to tour Australia.

Saint-Andre watched on as Lund produced yet another mature performance to help Sale into the Guinness Premiership final, and now he expects the 22-year-old to take his talents onto the world stage.

"I've been saying Magnus Lund is good enough for England for the last 12 months," said the Sharks director of rugby.

"He is such a good learner, you only have to ask him to do something once and he will do it.

"Guys like Magnus and Chris Jones are good in tight games but also when it opens up, and that's what you need."

Lund's all-round qualities have become well-known to everyone in the game over the past 12 months, a period in which he has developed into a rock at the heart of the Sale pack.

The back row also featured heavily in England's success on the Sevens stage throughout the year - earning himself a silver medal in the Commonwealth Games.

Saint-Andre believes Lund is a new generation openside, with multiple facets to his game, and he expects England to benefit for years to come.

"He varies his game very well and he has fantastic skills. He is an excellent player in the tight, he is fantastic in defence, he is good in the line-out and he can adapt his game," lauded the Frenchman.

"He's exactly the type of player I want in my team because I want to have a plan A, B and C and he is good enough to play different ways."

Meanwhile, fellow Sale man Mark Cueto has praised England's Charlie Hodgson, admitting the Sharks may have lost their semi-final to Wasps had the fly half not struggled on with a rib injury.

"Any injury to any key player, particularly when it's a fly-half like Charlie who does dominate and run the show so well, is always going to have an impact," said Cueto.

"We were just pleased he was able to stay on the field because who knows what might have happened if he had been forced to go off?"