With 10 players currently away on representative duty, questions have been asked in the media as to whether the squad at Franklin's Gardens will be able to compete during the next few weeks of LV= Cup and Aviva Premiership Rugby action.
However what has not been commented on is the fact that 33 players contributed to the Saints' five consecutive wins over the Christmas and New Year period, and Mallinder says that the players who will represent the club in this weekend's trip to Bath and beyond now have to demonstrate that they have learned from their game time.
"Winning is obviously what we are about as a club, but it was also important that as many players as possible experienced first team action," he said today. "We knew it was a possibility that several members of our squad would be called up for England and therefore needed as many players as possible to be able to step into the first team.
"The vast majority of the players that will run out tomorrow have played in the first team over the past few weeks and we have belief in their ability to compete and get a good result.
"They will have to play well in what is going to be a challenging afternoon. Bath have been going well in the LV= Cup and like ourselves need a win to take a big step towards the semi-finals. It's therefore no surprise that they have named a strong team with 10 internationals in the starting line-up. The Rec is a tough place to play and we will need to be switched on right from the first whistle."
Supporters can follow the game from the Recreation Ground in a number of ways. The Saints' official Facebook page will have the usual match blog where you can discuss the action with your fellow fans, with the club's Twitter feed publishing score updates every 10 minutes.
BBC Radio Northampton will have match commentary, with the match also being shown live on Sky Sports 1/HD1.
NORTHAMPTON SAINTS TEAM TO PLAY BATH
LV= Cup Round 3
Recreation Ground
Saturday, January 28th, 2012
Kick off 2:30pm
15 Paul DIGGIN
14 Jamie ELLIOTT
13 Scott ARMSTRONG
12 Greig TONKS
11 Vasily ARTEMYEV
10 Stephen MYLER
9 Martin ROBERTS
2 Brett SHARMAN
3 Tom MERCEY
4 Mark SORENSON
5 Christian DAY
7 Ben NUTLEY
8 Samu MANOA
Replacements
16 Andy LONG
17 Soane TONGA'UIHA
18 Brian MUJATI
19 James INGLE
20 Roger WILSON
21 Ryan GLYNN
22 Tom MAY
23 Noah CATO
