Mitchell so happy to be back in action for Saints after 'random injury'

Those are the words of Alex Mitchell, who can't hide his delight at finally being back in action for Saints.

The England scrum-half made his first appearance of the season last weekend as he came off the bench during the second half of the 25-17 defeat to Gloucester.

Mitchell, who has overcome a neck injury, had been unable to feature for Saints since scoring the winning try in last season's Gallagher Premiership final against Bath.

And he said: "The worst part to rugby is the injuries.

"It's been very frustrating watching the games from the sidelines. You have to help the team off the field, but you always want to be playing and I'm so excited to be back.

"I have missed it so much. Sometimes when you're playing all the time your body can feel a bit tired and you might complain about things.

"You maybe don't appreciate it as much, but when you are sidelined it gives you a bit of fire in the belly again and more motivation.

"To have that adrenaline back and to be involved in game day is fantastic."

Mitchell was due to play for Saints during pre-season but had to withdraw from the game against Bedford Blues in mid-September due to the neck problem.

He explained: "The timing wasn’t ideal. I felt like I was in a good spot and it was such a random injury.

"I got a few bangs during the start of the week on Monday and Tuesday.

"I was fine on the Wednesday but I woke up on Thursday and I couldn’t move my neck. I rang the club doctor and he asked me to drive into the club.

"I was in quite a bit of pain in the car but I just thought it would be a spasm.

"It didn't seem to go away and I had to have a scan, which showed it was a bulging disc in my neck.

"I had to have a couple of injections on it and there was no timeline to recovery. The first injection didn't really work but the second one did, so it was frustrating because we didn't know the extent of the injury."

Mitchell produced a typically sparky showing last weekend, setting up a try with his first touch, and he can't wait to get stuck in when he makes his first start of the campaign in the Investec Champions Cup opener against Castres this Saturday.

"It's our first game in Europe which is very exciting," Mitchell said. "It's the biggest club competition with the best teams and the best players.

"We have been too inconsistent in the league. We've been really good for 40 minutes, showing why we are champions, and then had 40 minutes of being poor defensively or with our discipline.

"We want to go one step further in Europe and get to the final.

"It was a fantastic experience playing at Croke Park in front of that massive crowd ([in last season's semi-final), but we were frustrated after the game because we could've beaten Leinster.

"We didn't put our best game out there and it was painful at the time but gives us the confidence to go again."