Northampton full-back Ben Foden insists he is relishing the competition for the England No.15 shirt.
Northampton full-back knows he needs to keep on performing
Northampton full-back Ben Foden insists he is relishing the competition for the England No.15 shirt.
Having been left frustrated as Ugo Monye filled the full-back jersey in the autumn internationals and then seen Delon Armitage start the RBS Six Nations campaign, Foden has had to wait for his chance.
However, the Saints star certainly made the most of his opportunities when they came along.
He impressed off the bench in his cameos against Ireland and Scotland, before finally winning his first start against France - and scoring his first international try after a superb break.
And despite finishing the championship in possession of the coveted jersey, Foden knows he needs to keep performing if he is to retain his spot for the five-match summer tour to Australia.
Foden told
skysports.com: "It is a 44-man squad and there will be a lot of competition on the tour, so I just want to put in some good performances from now until the end of the season to book my place on the flight.
"There is a lot competition in the Premiership at the moment, especially at full-back. If you look across the board, Mike Brown at Quins is playing very well, Nick Abendanon has come into some good form at Bath, Delon Armitage will always be in the frame, there's myself, Olly Morgan at Gloucester, Freddie Burns who is keeping Olly out of the shirt at the moment, 'Goodie' at Sarries, so there are a lot of options.
"I have to be worried about my place, but that is good because it keeps me on my toes and makes sure I am playing well and keep working hard.
"I think it is quite strange because a few years ago I would have said we were pretty weak in the full-back department, but it's amazing how things change.
"It is like the scrum-half position, everyone was saying where is England's next number nine, then all of a sudden there are four or five good young scrum-halves coming through the ranks. A similar thing has happened at full-back.
Healthy
"There is always going to be some young lad coming through who is the new hot-shot and being tipped to play for England.
"I think in any professional game there are always people waiting in line, so if someone falls out the queue there is someone waiting to take his place.
"I have to say there is competition across the squad - and I think that is healthy and shows that England are doing something about developing young players and young talent to make competition for places."
Foden, who was talking at a special Powerade training day at Twickenham, had found himself hampered by his ability to play in a number of positions with his first England appearance coming as replacement scrum-half.
However, the 24-year-old believes the decision to focus on one position has helped earn him a place in the England side.
"Scrum-half was my preferred position, I was called into the England squad for my first cap against Italy as a scrum-half," he admitted.
"However, I felt the better performances to justify my selection were coming at full-back so I felt I had to make it my specialist position and stop chasing the nine shirt.
"It is a decision that has paid off and one that has helped me sharpen up my performances.
Strengths
"I think when you get to international level, they want to pick a guy who is playing for his club week in, week out in a position that he knows inside and out."
Despite England having faced intense criticism recently, Foden believes the squad is developing well together - and that they can go Down Under in the summer and win.
"We are going to go there to get some results," said Foden.
"Obviously we are on the back of a long season and they are at the start of theirs so there will be a difference in the fitness levels, but we will have to play to our strengths.
"I think we will go down to Australia with a winning mentality and hopefully we go there to win. We will be going with a squad of 44 so that will give us plenty of choice.
"It is something I am looking to and it will be interesting to see how we get on. We want measure ourselves against the best teams in the world and want to win some Tests.
"I am excited by it because we have a good blend of experience and youth. I think the team has grown a lot over the past couple of years and we are going in the right direction. If people want to write us off as underdogs, then happy days."
Powerade is the official sports drink and INNERGEAR of the RFU and the England Rugby Team. For more information and training tips visit www.poweradegb.com/rugby
