SAINTS coach Kristian Woolf believes scrum half Lewis Dodd has the potential to be a future England international.

Dodd has impressed over the first couple of games of the season wearing the number seven shirt he was given at the start of the season.

The 20-year-old, who came into the side regularly at the back end of last year following the injury to Theo Fages in the Challenge Cup final, scored a fine try as he put in another assured display in the win at Hull last Saturday.

When asked about Dodd’s international prospects at Saints' weekly press conference, Woolf said: “He’s got an extremely bright future and I think at some stage he’s most definitely going to play for England, whether that’s this year or not is dependent on a number of things, his form, other players’ form.”

He stressed that Dodd’s focus needs to be on his weekly form for Saints and praised the way he has been “growing” in the scrum half position.

“When young players start playing really well like he has there’s always talk about whether they’re going to be in representative sides but at the moment for him that’s not important,” he added.

“He’s played two games this year and came in straight after the Challenge Cup (last year) and he’s done a great job, he’s been really consistent, he’s growing in that position and you can see that he’s starting to express himself and play with more and more confidence every week, and if he keeps doing that then he’s going to get all the accolades that he deserves and that’s where his concentration needs to be at the moment.”