Jim Mallinder during Northampton training© Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Northampton director of rugby Jim Mallinder is the latest candidate to rule himself out of the vacant England job.

Mallinder joined the likes of Warren Gatland, Eddie Jones, Wayne Smith and Exeter boss Rob Baxter in distancing himself the role relinquished by Stuart Lancaster last week.

"I'm not going anywhere. This is my club. I have lots of challenges ahead this season, and I'm looking forward to those," Mallinder said following the Saints' nervy European Champions Cup win over the Scarlets.

While Mallinder did not entertain the thought of taking over at international level, Northampton and England flanker Tom Wood voiced support for his coach ahead of the Rugby Football Union's search for Lancaster's replacement.

"I don't want any stupid headlines about 'Jim for England' but I can certainly vouch for his character as well and the work we do here," Wood said. "It's catch-22 for me -- obviously I would be sad to see him leave Saints but hopefully be involved at national level. I just hope they [the Rugby Football Union] do their due diligence and get the right man and we can all put this behind us, move on and start to build."

And Wood, who was named man of the match in the victory over the Scarlets, admitted he was sad "on a personal level" to see Lancaster leave.

"I worked closely with him and have got an awful lot of respect for him. I can vouch for his work rate and his commitment to the cause.

"Obviously at this level you are judged on results and to a man we have all got to look at ourselves and say we didn't get the result we wanted so we have all got to be accountable.

"We will wipe the slate clean and fight for our places in the national team -- it is not something at the forefront of my mind at the moment, I am just knuckling down for my club and trying to get us back to winning ways again."