Foden sure Saints can mix it
Ben Foden believes Northampton Saints have sent out a no-nonsense physical warning they are going to be a team to be reckoned with in the Heineken Cup next season.
Despite his disappointing omission from the England squad for the two-Test series against Argentina, Foden is still on a high following the European Challenge Cup final victory over French Top 14 side Bourgoin, a match that at times bordered on brutal.
And he says the team showed they are mean enough to be a handful if their opponents want to play it tough.
"It wasn't really my kind of game," admitted Foden, who hasn't even travelled to Argentina for Saturday's second Test. "But the thing is, it is good to see we can win those type of games as well.
"Everyone has us written down as a team that likes to throw the ball around and score wonderful tries.
"But we won a cup final by kicking five goals and sometimes that needs to be done.
"We've showed we are a team that's capable of doing it, and if a team wants to come down and mess around as Bourgoin did, our forwards are more than capable of handling that and putting it to them."
And Foden, who can now at last put his feet up and enjoy a rest after 11 solid months of rugby, added: "We have to get used to the fact that teams are going to play away from our strengths, and our strength is playing with the ball in hand.
"We did expect Bourgoin to be as they were in the final, and we have to accept that French clubs will play like that because they are lively and passionate, and they are very physical.
"So in the final we got ourselves ready for a physical battle and that's what came. We needed to show we could win that sort of game."
The draw for the pool stages of the Heineken Cup takes place today. And Foden added: "There are going to be games like that in the Heineken Cup next season. There might be the odd 6-3 result. But a win is a win."
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Weather for Kettering
Sunday 27 May 2012
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