England boss hails Saint Foden
ENGLAND boss Martin Johnson was delighted to see Ben Foden keep his scoring run going after a winning send-off for his side at Twickenham yesterday.
The Saints star played a major role and the whole 80 minutes in England's 35-26 win over the Barbarians.
Foden made it two tries in two games for England after diving over in the 37th minute of a first half that the hosts totally dominated.
The Saints full-back scored in England's last outing in the Six Nations in France and after touching down again the 24-year-old looks certain to start in the No. 15 shirt in the first Test against Australia on June 12.
Johnson said: "It was good to see Ben score again. He played pretty well again for us and is looking good at full-back.
"We talked at half-time how we didn't want to get too loose and get sucked in to throwing it around like the Barbarians, because that can happen in these games.
"We said we wanted to stay direct like we did in Ben's try. Nick (Easter) did really well running up the middle and Ben supported well, which is something we have talked about this week."
England sizzled under the sun in the first half, but wilted as the temperature soared after the break from a remarkable Barbarians comeback from 32-7 down.
They held on to register a 35-26 win as they head off to Australia today for the toughest of assignments. Any win is a timely boost and just what Johnson will garner from this mixed bag of a display is difficult to gauge.
Johnson picked out lock Dave Attwood and prop Jon Golding for special praise, but the Australians will offer a much sterner test to England's set-piece Down Under.
The England boss said: "It was a worthwhile exercise. There was a lot of running, which tested the guys, some haven't played for three weeks so that will do them some good."
Read Ashley Potter's England v Barbarians match report in today's Chron
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Friday 10 February 2012
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