Ben Foden is confident that Northampton Saints can surprise a few people in the second half of the season and push for the Aviva Premiership Rugby title.

The 31-year-old has been at Franklin’s Gardens for almost a decade and lifted English rugby’s biggest prize at Twickenham back in 2014 after a dramatic 24-20 extra-time victory over Saracens.

But while 2016-17 has seen Saints endure an up and down campaign, they are still very much in contention to push for a top four finish in the latter part of the season.

A semi-final success from there would secure a return to Twickenham in May but Foden insists the Saints must improve their form if they’re to make a late run at the trophy.

“Obviously with everyone looking at Northampton Saints this year, they would say the season has been poor,” he admitted.

“We are a club that wants to win silverware and we are fully focused on creeping into the top four.

“Hopefully we can pull something out of the bag and surprise a few people when it comes to trophy presentation in May.

“I think the league has changed, there are so many teams capable of beating each other.

“We have seen how dangerous teams like Newcastle are this year, they’ve come back up, managed to stay up, settled in and now they are a team to be reckoned with. We learned that the hard way.

“It’s something that sits a bit sour with us, we pride ourselves here of Franklin’s Gardens being a fortress.

“I think Franklin’s Gardens is one of the best rugby stadiums in the league and too many teams have come here and turned us over

 Foden was speaking at the launch of this year’s Aviva #DriveSafer campaign alongside team-mates Harry Mallinder and Stephen Myler.  As part of the campaign, Aviva and all 12 Premiership Rugby clubs are highlighting the dangers of dangerous driving caused by distractions, with a particular focus on the use of mobile phones. Foden explained there was really no excuse for drivers to be using their mobiles whilst at the wheel of a car.

“The Aviva #DriveSafer campaign is a great campaign. Everybody has to drive to and from work, including us as rugby players,” he added.

“There are times to use your phone and times to not, and when you’re in a car it can be a dangerous thing anyway without the other distractions, so first and foremost you need to focus on being safe on the road.

“Put it in your glovebox, put it in your pocket – these things can always wait, and those five seconds spent whilst you’re checking, it could cost you your life.”

With nine years of Saints experience behind him, Foden certainly has a lot of on-field memories to reflect on at Franklin’s Gardens.

And some of those have come as recently as this season, celebrating his 200th appearance for the club in November.

But despite helping his side to a first Aviva Premiership Rugby crown, it is the 2010-11 season that Foden holds dearest to his heart; the year that saw Saints lose a European final to Leinster.

Foden continued: “I’ve loved every minute of it. When I first got the phonecall from Jim (Mallinder) asking me if I was interested in coming, he said some great things about where the club was going and which players were being signed.

“The time has flown by, we’ve built things together and had success, and I’ve seen players come and go, a lot of whom I’m still really good friends with.

“I’ve always said my favourite year has been the one where we lost the European Cup, which may sound strange to a lot of people, but we were a team of players that achieved so much.

“I think people were surprised at us, but we were a band of brothers and every time we played we left everything on the pitch.”

Northampton Saints are proud to support Aviva, title sponsor of Premiership Rugby, on their #DriveSafer campaign and help raise awareness of dangerous driving. Download the Aviva Drive app to see how safe your driving is at www.aviva.co.uk/car-insurance/drive