Sale Sharks director of rugby Philippe Saint-Andre has given his full backing to the selection of Magnus Lund for England's forthcoming tour of Australia.
The uncapped 22-year-old openside flanker was named today by England coach Andy Robinson in an inexperienced-looking squad to travel to Australia for the two-Test series in June.
Lund has enjoyed a superb season for the Sharks and alongside Sebastien Chabal and Jason White has been an integral component of the Guinness Premiership's outstanding back-row unit.
Saint-Andre has no doubt over Lund's ability to rise to the challenge of playing international rugby.
``I've been saying Magnus Lund is good enough for England for the last 12 months,'' said Saint-Andre.
``He is such a good learner, you only have to ask him to do something once and he will do it.
``He varies his game very well and he has fantastic skills. He is an excellent player in the tight, he is fantastic in defence, he is good in the line-out and he can adapt his game.
``He's exactly the type of player I want in my team because I want to have a plan A, B and C and he is good enough to play different ways.
``Guys like Magnus and (second row) Chris Jones are good in tight games but also when it opens up, and that's what you need.''
Lund produced another impressive display in Sunday's Premiership semi-final win over London Wasps at Edgeley Park, as the Sharks deservedly booked a place at Twickenham to face Leicester Tigers in the May 27 final.
In an intense game which saw little in the way of running rugby, Lund showed the versatile side of his game by scavenging on the floor and competing fiercely at the breakdown - an area England where have struggled ever since the retirement of Neil Back.
The game was lit up by a 31st-minute try by World Cup-winning full-back Jason Robinson, who saw off three Wasps defenders in a jack-knifing 50 metre sprint to the try-line.
After the game England winger Mark Cueto, who will be rested for the summer tour despite having declared his desire to go, was full of praise for Robinson's stunning contribution.
``All the regular fans are used to seeing that sort of trademark running and quality finishing from Jason,'' said Cueto.
``He's taken a little bit of stick this season for not scoring many tries but he produced the goods in a big game and that's typical of the man.''
Cueto also hailed the performance of Charlie Hodgson, another man who will miss the tour in order to rest.
Hodgson displayed his full range of skills, managing the game superbly with his canny kicking from hand, and collecting 17 points with a flawless goalkicking display.
Hodgson's performance was made all the more impressive for the fact he damaged his ribs in a first-half collision with Wasps lock Simon Shaw.
Cueto was relieved Hodgson was able to stay on the field.
``Any injury to any key player, particularly when it's a fly-half like Charlie who does dominate and run the show so well, is always going to have an impact,'' said Cueto.
``We were just pleased he was able to stay on the field because who knows what might have happened if he had been forced to go off?''
Despite being pleased with the win, Cueto admitted he had felt under used in a game dominated by the forwards.
``It's testimony to the way they (Wasps) defend which makes it really difficult to get the ball wide,'' he said.
``It does make it quite frustrating sometimes to play out on the wing.''