Confident Saint Foden wants to be one of the world’s best
Then there was the decision to leave Sale Sharks, his boyhood club, because they refused to play him at scrum-half.
And now there are declarations that the 24-year-old has set himself the target of becoming ‘one of the best players in England, if not the world’.
If you are going to talk the talk, you had better be able to back it up — and so far this season, Foden has.
This evening’s Heineken Cup quarter-final with Munster at Thomond Park would intimidate players who lack Foden’s self-confidence. Instead Foden believes it offers the perfect stage for him and fellow England internationals Chris Ashton, Courtney Lawes, Dylan Hartley and Shane Geraghty to show that all is not lost as Martin Johnson flails desperately for a system and selection policy that will see them become a force for the 2011 World Cup.
“One of the great things about the Heineken Cup is that all eyes will be on it, especially as we’re the only English team left in it,” says Foden, who was given his first England start in the final game of the Six Nations, a 12-10 defeat in Paris in which the full-back scored after just five minutes.
“We’re a young side and very few of us have been in this situation before. That is both positive and negative because while we lack experience, we have guys wanting to go out and make a name for themselves. Players like Geraghty, Ashton, Hartley, Lawes and Phil Dowson want to stick their hands up and say: ‘I can play at this level’.
They all have points to prove. Hopefully they won’t shy away from the stage and put in a big performance.”
And a big performance is exactly what Foden is looking for. The majority of Franklin’s Gardens regulars agree that Saints’ 31-27 Pool Stage victory over Munster back in October was the highlight of their season.
Not Foden, however. A poor performance saw him slip out of the England reckoning, even though Delon Armitage, Johnson’s first-choice, was injured.
It was galling to watch Ugo Monye, a Lions-class wing but a sub-standard full-back, endure a horrific afternoon against Argentina. Foden moaned in public and was censured by the England management, but his self-belief never wavered, even when he was targeted by Ronan O’Gara and company.
“I’ve always been quite confident in my ability,” he explains. “The home game here definitely didn’t do me any favours, though. A lot of question were asked about me under the high ball and whether I was ready to take that sort of pressure in that type of game. It didn’t put me in good stead for the autumn internationals. But I think I’ve proved to the coaches and the rugby public that I’m more than capable of being under the high ball. I want to play well every time I go onto the pitch. I want to be one of the best players in England, if not the world.”
Foden is well aware that Thomond Park provides the perfect opportunity for him to make a statement of intent as Northampton look to become just the second side to win a Heineken Cup match there in 15 years, after Leicester in 2007. They came close in January, losing 12-9, but there is a feeling that basic mistakes cost the visitors.
That game, just like Saints’ 9-8 victory in the 2000 final, was low-scoring, but if Saints bring youthful exuberance and a hatful of tries to Limerick then Munster provide experience, as Foden well knows.
“Seven of their players were in that team from 2000,” says Foden. “There is a lot of experience in their side, but it’s kill or be killed. There’s no point shying away from it. We’ll be looking to throw the ball around and score some tries, hopefully building up a big score against them. It would me massive (for Saints to win at Thomond).
“It’s a dream of any player to win the Heineken Cup. The club has won it before but has had a rocky past four years so it would be a great statement for us to come back and win the biggest competition of them all in European rugby. It would show that Northampton is a club that belongs at the top of Europe.”
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