Born and bred in Coventry, Tom Wood arrived in the England Saxons' squad via the Worcester Warriors' Academy, along with, among others, Miles Benjamin and Matt Mullan, who have climbed the England rankings.

He made 14 Guinness Premiership appearances for Worcester in 2007-08, his debut season, and 14 in his second campaign, followed by 20 matches in 2009-10, in which he played for the full 80 minutes in all but eight.

Those statistics also illustrate how he overcame surgery on his right shoulder at the end of 2008, when Mike Ruddock, then the Worcester director of rugby said: "Tom is an outstanding young forward and a fantastic product of our thriving Academy system. He has a very bright future."

His first call for the Saxons' training squad for the match against Ireland A at Bath on January 31, 2010 supported Ruddock's view and Tom played off the bench in the second win over Italy A in Treviso eight days later.

After Tom joined the Worcester Academy, he had sustained a broken leg before a spell in New Zealand with North Otago gave him renewed confidence and eagerness to impress at Sixways, the home of the Warriors. He has switched to Northampton Saints for 2010-11.

Tom made an instant impression at Franklin's Gardens, being the Aviva Premiership Man of the Match on his debut in September when the Saints beat reigning champions Leicester Tigers 27-19.

His playing origins in Coventry were at the Barkers' Butts club, once a school old boys' team, near Meriden, that has been renowned for an academy of its own.

Tom has joined some eminent graduates from there in multi-capped former England back row Neil Back, Scotland lock Jim Hamilton, and ex-England players Leon Lloyd, Danny Grewcock and Rob Hardwick. They are an inspiration in themselves.