Jamie George says new Saracens team-mate Hugh Tizard could play for England at the 2023 Rugby Union World Cup.

“That is an absolute steal for us,” 69-cap international George told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Rugby Union Weekly.

“He’s a great player. He’s the sort of bloke who you can see making his way into the England set-up by the time of the World Cup.”

“I’ve been really, really impressed by him.”

England youth international Tizard will be aiming for the second Premiership title of his career as part of a squad who were denied in the final at Twickenham in June.

In Saracens’ first season back in the Premiership following their relegation for salary cap breaches, Saracens stormed past Harlequins 34-17 in the play-offs before a late Freddie Burns drop-goal condemned them to a 15-12 defeat by Leicester Tigers.

George has been working with Saracens player-turned-psychologist Calum Clark and David Jones, the club’s head of psychology and personal development, as part of an intense build-up to the season.

“It seems this pre-season has been really condensed and is quite short,” George added.

“Thankfully I did a little bit of training while I was away, otherwise I’d be in big trouble. We’re pushing, we’re excited.

“We were so close last year but we probably played our final in the semi-final, to be honest. We need to find a way to back up our performances.

“There was something not quite there. I’ve spoken at length with Calum Clark, who’s a brilliant psychologist.

“He’s well read, has played at the highest level as well and is a great guy, a great character. David Jones is very, very good as well.”

The experience of being deducted points and then relegated is no longer a driving force for Saracens players, George said.

“That can’t be motivation for 12 months of the year. It certainly was when we were coming back in and playing those games for nothing when we were on minus 100,000 points,” he said.

“We played really well. We can talk about it now because it’s funny.

“They quickly realised that we were bonus-pointing everyone because we were revved up to our eyeballs.

“You can’t be motivated by that all year round – what’s motivation is to win it again.”