Jamie Foster - St Helens RLFC

St Helens RLFC

In the fourth round of the 2010 Challenge Cup, he finally made his first-grade début, after three years in reserve-grade rugby, playing on the wing in place of the injured Francis Meli, where he kicked eight goals from as many attempts in a 56-16 win over Toulouse Olympique. In his Super League debut the week later, again deputising for Meli, Foster looked impressive once more with the boot scoring eight from eight in a 41-20 success over Leeds Rhinos. His first failure with the boot only came in his third appearance, when, in a 54-0 Magic Weekend win over Hull KR, he kicked only two from six, whilst also scoring his maiden try for the club. He missed the cut for the Challenge Cup game against Harlequins RL, but thanks to a recurrence of Meli's injury, Foster returned for the 34-42 loss at Salford City Reds, in which he was brought off the field after ten minutes after a poor display defensively.

However, this did not end his run in the first team, as he started on the wing against Rovers in a 68-12 win, before being dropped for the loss at Hull FC. However, he returned to play on the right wing in a 24-22 win at home to Huddersfield, where he kicked five goals. The next week (in round 18) he was again on the wing for a 24-26 win over rivals Wigan Warriors, where he kicked three from five and scored a try. He missed three games with a calf knock but returned for Saints in a centre role against Wakefield that saw him kick seven goals from nine attempts. He was also part of beaten finalists St. Helens where Wigan Warriors won 22-10 in the 2010 Super League Grand Final.

In 2011 Jamie has so far scored 14 tries and 77 goals, a total of 210 points, in 13 appearances and 3 from the bench. His partnership with Francis Meli this season has been productive. In the first game of the 2011's Super League XVI St. Helens played Wigan Warriors in a repeat of the Super League final. In this game Saints were losing 16-0 at halftime and came back to draw 16-16 with Jamie coming off the bench to kick 2 goals. Foster then kicked 8/10 against Salford City Reds in round 2. When Saints played Leeds Rhinos, in Round 6, he scored 2 tries, including a round the back trick to score in the corner, and kicked 5 goals. In Round 12, he kicked a touchline goal to win the game for Saints against Castleford Tigers. In the Challenge Cup Fifth Round Jamie kicked 11 out of 12 goals in a 70-0 thrashing of Featherstone Rovers.

Royce Simmons, the Saints coach, has said "Jamie Foster's ability to kick points is vital to the Saints. The way Foster can turn four points into six, he can break the heart of another side through that." Jamie is the fourth top try scorer in Super League with 12 tries, and is the fifth top goal scorer with 58 successful kicks.