Early yellow card can’t derail Foden farewell
BEN Foden rolled back the years with a riproaring display that resembled his England best as Northampton ended a traumatic season with a thrilling win.
Trailing 14-0 to a Worcester side that shone brightly before the loss of key players took a toll, full-back Foden sparked the comeback by creating his side’s opening try before having a hand in two others and notching a superbly finished touchdown of his own.
Foden’s future is still to be decided, with America a mooted destination. He told
TRP: “Nothing’s concrete but it’ll be offshore and it’ll be an exciting challenge for me.
“It was important to finish the season positively and we’ve done that. We see ourselves as a top four side that also challenges in Europe and, while there’ll be a lot of change this summer, there are a lot of talented players here who want to prove themselves.”
Foden’s 250th and last Northampton appearance began ignominiously when he was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on as Josh Adams looked set to pounce.
Worcester went close through Marco Mama before opening the scoring when Perry Humphreys raced clear and put debutant centre Will Butler under the posts.
Smart work between Chris Pennell, Ben Te’o and Mama then created space for Francois Hougaard and Butler grabbed his second try from Dorian Jones’s grubber.
Foden returned but Worcester’s red tide continued to flow and Cobus Reinach had to be alert to deal with a Jones chip before Adams almost wriggled clear.
Northampton needed a foothold and got one when Foden broke away, offloaded to Reinach and was involved twice more before Mitch Eadie barrelled over.
Worcester suffered a double blow as Butler (arm) and Hougaard departed injured, the latter with a nasty head knock from which he is expected to recover quickly.
Saints proceeded to build a head of steam, with Eadie, Teimana Harrison and the increasingly influential George North carrying hard. However, Warriors showed fortitude by limiting them to a single James Grayson penalty to lead 14-10 at the break.
Worcester’s effort was rewarded straight from the restart when Tom Howe picked Reinach’s pocket from an Adams punt and laid on a simple finish for Te’o.
Northampton’s response was swift, though, as Eadie soared to collect a Haywood throw and the ball whizzed wide to Foden before Piers Francis slipped in Nafi Tuitavake.
Saints promptly hit the front in splendid fashion when Jamie Gibson released North. He took contact before play switched left and slick hands enabled Foden to outstrip Humphreys and score, earning huge acclaim from the Franklin’s Gardens faithful.
Jones quickly slotted Worcester back in front but better soon followed for Northampton as Foden again found space and this time delivered a peach of an offload for Tom Collins to roar home, Grayson converting from wide for a 29-24 lead.
North looked set for a try on his last Saints appearance but fellow Welshman Adams denied him by going deliberately offside, earning a yellow card for his trouble and leaving the stage set for the departing Saints fly-half Stephen Myler to slot the clinching kick.