And the 25-year-old Foden maintains that this huge step forward by Martin Johnson’s troops has not gone unnoticed.

“Although we saw [defeat by] the All Blacks as another step forward, a loss against Australia and it would all have been eradicated,” he said.

"A lot of the hard work we'd done over the summer off the back of the RBS Six Nations would have been undone.

"The southern hemisphere teams have to take us seriously now.

"That was our main aim, to put ourselves up there and make sure we're competing with the big boys. That's what we've gone out to do. We've put down a marker now.

"Australia beat New Zealand a couple of weeks ago, we gave the All Blacks a good run for their money, and they know we're a threat.

"Australia will certainly be thinking about us come World Cup time."