Jim Mallinder has paid tribute to "world-class" full-back Ben Foden after Saints' Heineken Cup victory over Scarlets.
Foden stars as Saints storm Parc y Scarlets
Northampton director of rugby Jim Mallinder has paid tribute to "world-class" full-back Ben Foden after Saturday's Heineken Cup victory over Scarlets.
Foden played a key role in Saints thrilling 29-17 win and his performance at Parc y Scarlets will have given England coach Stuart Lancaster much food for thought ahead of the Six Nations campaign.
A prominent presence throughout the full-back capped a superb individual performance by producing two standout moments in the dying minutes of the match.
With the score at 22-17 in the visitors' favour and Scarlets pushing hard to clinch the win and keep their qualification hopes alive, Foden denied opposite number Liam Williams in the left-hand corner with a superb covering tackle.
He then dealt the hosts a killer blow, intercepting Scarlets replacement Rhodri Williams' pass and racing the length of the field to score from the final play of the game.
Determination
"He is a quality player and it's not the first time he has played so well," said Mallinder. "I think it shows what a world-class player he is in attack and defence.
"It made a difference having Ben at full-back today, we know the Scarlets have a very good kicking game, and having him and our two wingers (Chris Ashton and Vasily Artemyev) playing really well meant our back three was a lot safer."
After trailing 14-6 at half-time Saints fought back in the second half to avenge the 28-23 defeat they suffered at the hands of the Scarlets earlier in the pool stage.
And Mallinder was delighted with the determination his side showed in dealing with a ferocious late onslaught as the hosts tried desperately to overturn the five-point deficit.
"We said we were disappointed with the manner of how we lost to the Scarlets up at Franklin's Gardens and we wanted to put that straight," he said.
"It was a good game, there were opportunities for both sides but we were pleased to hold out and it was a tremendous defensive effort at the end to keep the Scarlets out.
Intensity
"At half-time we said 'let's keep playing'. We had the breeze in our favour in the second half , we talked about putting the ball in behind them, getting the ball off the field and putting their line-out under some pressure and we did that well."
Scarlets head coach Nigel Davies praised his side's commitment but said the Welsh outfit had failed to take their chances when they arose.
"We played with good intent and spirit," he said. "The intensity was good and you couldn't ask much more from the players in terms of commitment, but we were a little bit inaccurate and didn't take the opportunities which were presented to us.
"There were more than a couple of chances near the end. I thought the boys were fantastic in their work-rate but just have to be a little bit more clinical in this level of tournament.
"We didn't start the second half particularly well, we couldn't get out of our own territory and that's where they got their points. We were chasing the game after that. We had to be very accurate and we weren't."
