Tom West talks injuries, messages from Saints' England men, Mujati memories and more

It was the second long-term injury in a tough 2025 for West, who also had an enforced lay-off following a foot injury in a game at Exeter Chiefs late last season.

That meant he missed the Investec Champions Cup final and then saw a spanner put in the works after returning to action earlier this season as that Bristol issue cost him more time.

But he's fighting fit again now, and he helped Saints to keep their PREM Rugby Cup campaign on track with a 40-24 victory at Harlequins last weekend.

This week, West sat down to speak to the media about his return to action, his time on the sidelines, his 'therapy dog', messages from the England camp, memories of playing against former Saints prop Brian Mujati and more.

Here is our full question and answer session with the Saints loosehead prop…

Q: Tom, good to see you back. How has the return from injury been?

A: "It's been frustrating this season, having back-to-back injuries, but hopefully I can get a good bit of game fitness in now and get back going.

"You play better when you're in a rhythm as well. Once you string games together, you get more out of yourself because it's hard to drop in and out.

"The hardest thing for me this year has been back-to-back injuries. It's been a five-and-a-half-month injury into a three-month one with my knee.

"Only having four games in between has been mentally quite tough.

"I'm now 30 so to have that as the first time it's happened, I've been quite lucky, but it just shows you're still learning about yourself and how to deal with things as you get later on down the line.

"I wouldn't say I haven't had setbacks before but it's the back-to-back nature of it, only having a short amount of games between each one has been the toughest thing to adjust to."

Q: How good are you with having to sit and watch games while you're injured?

A: "Depends what sort of head space I'm in, sometimes I'm not (good at watching).

"If it's been a good week, I'll absolutely be champing at the bit to watch, and if it's been a bad week, I'll just want to curl up and go inside my shell."

Q: What's kept you going during your recent spells on the sidelines?

A: "My partner, my dog.

"The good thing was that we got a dog last year so we've had her for a year now and it's actually coincided well with both injuries.

"She's been sort of emotional support. A therapy dog as they would say nowadays."

Q: How exciting is it to have been able to return at this stage of the season?

A: "Being in contention for all three competitions is great. It keeps everyone focused.

"It allows everyone to stay match fit, it gives everyone something to go after and it allows 18, 19-year-olds through to some of us older guys to keep playing and keeps the competitiveness in the squad really high."

Q: Have you had much contact with the international players who are currently away?

A: "Manny (Iyogun) sent me a message before the game on Friday just saying 'good luck in your first game back' and I said 'hope you're enjoying camp'.

"I know he's buzzing to be there but knowing him and his personality, he wants to be pushing on and getting some game time.

"Hopefully he sticks at it, keeps his head down and I'm praying for him to get a game in the Six Nations.

"Fin (Smith) messaged me as well, saying 'good luck first game back'.

"I realised I replied to him after the game at just gone midnight and it was the day before the Scotland game so I'm hoping he would have had his phone on do not disturb and been a professional about it."

Q: Was the plan always for you to get 40 minutes in the game at Harlequins last Friday?

A: "The plan was to get to the half and make the change. It was good.

"We rode the (Luke Green) yellow card really well. We were lucky that we didn't have a scrum so we didn't have to make a change.

"In the first 30 minutes, we could have been better, we missed some opportunities at points.

"But it really built that resilience, riding that yellow card in that first half didn't faze us and then getting those two tries towards the end of the half meant the boys went out firing in the second half."

Q: Saints fielded guest players Ben Alexander and Joe Cowell last week. How good is it to see guys like that come in and make an immediate impact?

A: "Ben and Joey have been really good. It's good to see guys come in and excel.

"Jack Lewis as well at 17, it's good to see these guys pushing on.

"This is a competition that most people can say they made their professional debut in if they were playing for a professional club. I certainly did.

"My debut was Sale away in what might have been the LV= Cup and I was against a skinny, after he'd come back from Racing, Brian Mujati. It was good.

"He (Mujati) was really lean then. He was doing all the stuff on YouTube and he was really trying to kick on with the body shape he got himself into.

"I don't know him personally but I played against him and it's something that sticks in my mind.

"You remember it because it's your first game and especially now there's no A-League, it's a chance for boys to wear a Saints shirt more regularly for a period of time."

Q: What does it say about Saints that players can fit into the team so seamlessly?

A: "It's a welcoming environment.

"There's no bad personalities, no d***heads. I genuinely don't think there is and we're really good at managing it ourselves."

Q: A trip to Newcastle on Friday. How excited are you about where this PREM Rugby Cup campaign is going?

A: "The way we've all got to look at it over the next few weeks is that this is the first opportunity (to win silverware) and we've got three of them.

"This is the first one we're going to get."