Northampton Saints chief says club have had interest 'from far and wide' to replace Jim Mallinder

Northampton Saints chief executive Mark Darbon has revealed the club have already received significant interest in the vacant director of rugby position following the sacking of Jim Mallinder.

Northampton have already begun the hunt to secure a permanent successor to Mallinder, with former England and Lions coach Mike Ford understood to be the frontrunner for a short-term deal to bring experience to the coaching ticket for the remainder of the season.

Heyneke Meyer, the former Springbok coach and Dean Richards, the Newcastle director of rugby, are both thought to be under consideration.

“We are right at the start of this process so I am not going to talk about specific names, there has been a lot of interest from far and wide and we are not surprised by that given the opportunity here at Northampton Saints,” Darbon told the BBC.

Darbon said that the Northampton board had felt compelled to bring Mallinder’s 10-year tenure to an end because he had been unable to halt a run of eight successive defeats in all competitions even though there was some disappointment in the squad at his departure.

“Jim is a loyal individual and that is a character trait that we hold in high regard here at Northampton Saints,” said Darbon. “We all wanted Jim and hoped that Jim would be able to turn things around on the pitch and we are all disappointed that we haven’t been able to do that and that is why we felt a change was needed.

“We were all feeling the pressure of a run of poor results and now it is about creating about the right conditions for the future.”

Meanwhile Australia hooker James Hanson has signed a permanent contract with Gloucester after spending two-and-a-half months with the Premiership side.

The 29-year-old signed on a short-term deal from Melbourne Rebels in September and had been set to return to the club.

However he has agreed an undisclosed-length contract to stay at Gloucester, where he has made seven appearances.

Glasgow Warriors hooker George Turner has been banned for four weeks for the incident that led to a yellow card in the Champions Cup loss to Montpellier.

Turner was yellow-carded for an off-the-ball shoulder charge to the back of Louis Picamoles when Warriors led 17-5.