Three of Wood's four tries for Worcester have come this season

Northampton Saints have signed 23-year-old back rower Tom Wood from Worcester.

Wood, who plays flanker or number eight, is a Warriors academy product and was one of the rising stars at Sixways having made 54 appearances.

"This a massive and exciting opportunity that I felt too good to turn down," said Wood.

"I will have international ambitions too, but my first motivation will be to get into the Saints first team. That's the challenge, to improve my game."

Coventry-born Wood learned the game at Barkers Butts and travelled to New Zealand for a spell with North Otago.

This week Wood was also drafted into the England Saxons squad for the games against Ireland and Italy.

Because he is still a young man, we believe he can improve and add to his game Saints director Jim Mallinder

"We've been very aware of how strong Northampton have been across the board and how fit they are across the 80 minutes, as we found out at Worcester this season," Wood added.

"They've got the ability to play fast and put pressure on teams.

"When you take a step back you have to admire how Northampton can step it up in the last few minutes and the confidence they have to step it up."

Saints director of rugby Jim Mallinder said: "Tom is an excellent player.

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"He has plenty of Guinness Premiership and European experience, and because he is still a young man we believe he can improve and add to his game.

"The back row has been one of the most competitive areas of our squad over the past two years and having Tom here will mean that the standards will only go up.

"We are building a squad that we want to be competitive at the top end of the Guinness Premiership for several years and Tom will be a big part of that."

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