West has no worries over Corbisiero’s knee injury

It has been reported that the England prop, who will join Northampton from London Irish this summer, will miss the start of his country’s Six Nations campaign.

Added to that, Irish boss Brian Smith claimed Corbisiero’s knee is a ‘mess’ and the problem is ‘degenerative’, throwing the 24-year-old’s future in the game into doubt.

But Saints were clearly satisfied with the player’s medical state and West believes it just needs to be rested for a short period of time.

“He’s had a bad knee injury that’s messed him around for a bit of a while now but the feeling is from the medical teams that he’s going to recover, he just needed a bit of rest,” said the forwards coach.

“I think he’s fully expecting to play in the Six Nations and then hopefully for him he’ll go on the Lions tour.

“He’s a good player, he manages himself well, he’s very intelligent and I don’t think there’s a doubt there at the minute.”

West is one of the best in the coaching game at selecting props and helping them hit a high level of performance.

The former Leicester front row forward is a big admirer of Corbisiero and believes he will fit perfectly into Saints’ structure.

“He’s a good all round player,” said West. “He’s the sort of player we look for. He likes to scrummage and he also is good around the pitch.

“I think the group of players we’ve had over the last few years have all shown those qualities as well.

“We’re really pleased with the type of props we’ve got. We’ve got some really good, young lads and they’re all good rugby players, so that’s what we look for.”