Saints coach King praises ‘incredible’ England form of Burrell

Alex King has praised Luther Burrell for an ‘incredible’ start to England’s Six Nations campaign.
IMPRESSED - Saints attack coach Alex King (Picture: Linda Dawson)IMPRESSED - Saints attack coach Alex King (Picture: Linda Dawson)
IMPRESSED - Saints attack coach Alex King (Picture: Linda Dawson)

And he is looking forward to seeing his Saints charge renew rivalries with Brian O’Driscoll at Twickenham on Saturday evening.

Burrell and O’Driscoll battled it out in two recent Heineken Cup games, with Leinster winning at Franklin’s Gardens before Saints claimed victory at the Aviva Stadium.

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The pair will go head to head once more this weekend, with Burrell in confident mood after scoring in his first two games for his country, against France and Scotland.

And King said: “It’s great. Luther played against Brian at the Aviva so it’s going to be a great match-up.

“Joe Schmidt, who I worked with at Clermont, will coach his team very intelligently and they will be looking to pick holes in the English defence, so I’m expecting an absolute belter of a game.

“Luther’s had an incredible start and I’m really pleased for him because he’s worked so hard with us.

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“He deserves all the success he’s getting and hopefully he continues for the rest of the Six Nations, when he comes back to us and on the summer tour of New Zealand.”

Saints will have two stars playing at 13 for their country this weekend, despite neither of them playing there on a regular basis for their club.

Burrell is at outside centre for England, while George North will fulfil the same role for Wales in their clash with France.

And King joked: “We’ve got Luther at 13 playing for England, George North at 13 playing for Wales and it puts George Pisi under a little bit of pressure.

“There are two current international players playing in the Six Nations in his position.”