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Tommy Freeman scored three tries in Northampton’s win over Clermont last weekend - Getty Images/Shaun Botterill
Away from the pitch, Tommy Freeman seems to be an affable, modest and unassuming character. But as with the very best performers in any position, from tighthead prop to wing, playing against him seems to be an invariably challenging and even unpleasant experience.
Anthony Watson remembers the very start of the East Midlands derby last October. Leicester Tigers would go on to win comfortably, Freeman’s late consolation try failing to dull the pain of a 24-8 defeat for Northampton Saints. Still, the opening seconds felt more frantic for Watson.
“It was quite an attritional game and we didn’t have many one-on-one situations,” he explains. “I do remember after we had kicked off, I was in the back field. They box-kicked to me and I thought I was going to have time to get out to the middle of the pitch, where I generally like to take on forwards.
“By the time I had caught the ball and taken two steps to my left, ‘Freemo’ had taken my legs away and given me no chance to do what I wanted to do.”
Platitudes have streamed in for Freeman of late. The 24-year-old, who had to wait 14 months between his third and fourth caps after Steve Borthwick succeeded Eddie Jones as England head coach, looted a try in each of his side’s five Six Nations fixtures this term.
His hat-trick, which he sealed by shrugging off Alivereti Raka, helped Saints dismiss Clermont last Friday and set up this weekend’s Investec Champions Cup quarter-final against Castres. Thanks to a tally of 15 tries in 23 appearances for club and country this season, Freeman is catching the eye and enhancing his reputation. Graft lays on the glamour.
Phil Dowson, the Northampton director of rugby, spoke on Friday night about Freeman’s formidable capacity to repeat sprints close to his peak velocity of 10.4 metres per second. On England’s tour of Australia in 2022, according to GPS units, he recorded close to 420m of what was termed as “high-speed running” – around 70 per cent of his maximum – in a Test match. This was among the best returns ever recorded by the England set-up.
Freeman is a relentless chaser of kicks and an intelligent support runner. For obvious reasons, being able to produce quick bursts more frequently during any given game is advantageous. Not only did Chris Ashton possess predatory opportunism, he also turned up at the right place at the right time so often because he was remarkably fit.
Watson reckons wider recognition is long overdue, because assets such as aerial prowess and defensive composure can be widely undervalued. “He doesn’t get a lot of plaudits for doing the little things that are so influential,” says Watson. “Getting up and forcing a knock-on from the opposition is an absolute win.
“With his defensive reads; that can sometimes mean just getting into an attacker’s eyeline and forcing them back inside rather than towards the edge. People will look at most of those situations and ask ‘why didn’t the attack just throw the ball out there or over the top?’
“It will be because Tommy Freeman put himself in a position where he could both stop the ball over the top while also being able to go and get the attacker right in front of him. Those things are nuances that are underappreciated. And now he’s killing it, scoring tries and making breaks, so other stuff perhaps gets forgotten about. He’s got an all-court game, genuinely.”
An example of this positioning, poise and conviction arrived 10 minutes before half-time of the latest Calcutta Cup tie, with Scotland leading England 10-7 and pushing for a try that would have put their hosts in serious bother. With his defensive line narrow, Freeman darted up and in on the flight of a looping pass from Finn Russell and rushed Kyle Rowe into a handling error:
An overhead camera angle demonstrates how far Freeman needed to travel to make a pivotal intervention:
Notwithstanding the class of players from other nations vying for berths in Andy Farrell’s contingent of backs, Freeman is probably just behind Maro Itoje and Tom Curry on the list of England’s most bankable British and Irish Lions.
Simon Zebo, part of the Premier Sports commentary team this weekend, twice faced Saints in the Champions Cup for Munster last season. A former tourist himself, he likens Freeman to a highly accomplished Lion of the 2009 and 2013 trips to South Africa and Australia.
“He’s obviously very athletic,” Zebo says of Freeman. “He’s a big frame at around 6ft 4in, he gets up into the air really, really well and is dangerous as a finisher. He’s deceptively fast, able to move at a fair clip. That’s essential for any back-three player, but his all-round game is very impressive.
“He reminds me of Tommy Bowe. That would be the first player that springs to mind. They have similar qualities. Freeman pops up in the same sort of spaces that Tommy Bowe would pop up around the pitch. They both would like to run strike lines as opposed to distributing lines, which would complement their athleticism.”
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Freeman has been likened to Tommy Bowe, who starred for the Lions in 2009 and 2013 - PA
In a gripping last-16 tie a year ago, Zebo and Freeman lined up opposite one another. Or at least that is how some set-plays will have began. The latter roamed onto the shoulder of fly-half Fin Smith to pierce Munster for a crucial try late in the first half.
By the hour mark, Freeman had shifted to outside centre. His short angle from a line-out strike play allowed Fraser Dingwall to pull the ball to Smith before Ollie Sleightholme carved up the middle in the lead-up to the first finish of George Hendy’s defining double.
“I liked where he was finding himself coming into the line and threatening, sometimes running decoy lines,” Zebo adds of Freeman.
“He was very involved in the way that Northampton play, which was great… well, not for us on the day. Any time he had the ball, it felt like he was dragging in two defenders. Even if he wasn’t making loads of line-breaks, Northampton would be getting a bit of joy off the back of what he’d done.
“I enjoyed competing against him… although I’d like to have been a few years younger going up against a player of that quality!”
Josh Bassett took on Freeman twice for two different clubs, Wasps and then Harlequins, over the 2022-23 season. As a Premiership veteran, he applauds a palpable drive to develop. Freeman, Bassett believes, is an intuitive operator.
“In attack, Saints are free-flowing,” Bassett says. “They have that shape that allows them to create quick ball and then they play what is in front of them. Defensively, they’re more passive. They look to fill the field and keep numbers on their feet.
“That’s a different task to what England were doing [under Felix Jones] in that aggressive press. It was the complete opposite to Northampton, but it will have allowed Tommy to experience different things and to learn from different coaching approaches. It’s definitely propelled him in lots of ways.
“He also seems to read the game really well. You can see that from the amount of times Northampton put little kicks through that he will have called after seeing the space in behind. It’s quite easy to come in, do well and stay at a certain level. He’s constantly looked to add to his game.”
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Josh Bassett comes across to tackle Tommy Freeman while playing for Wasps in 2021 - GETTY IMAGES
Richard Wigglesworth, the England attack coach who will be seconded to the Lions this summer, recently revealed that Freeman is willing to occupy any position in the back line beyond fly-half. Watson believes this attitude breeds confidence as well as “an ability to figure it out and do your thing regardless of where you’re playing”.
“The best way to summarise him is that I think he is probably the most complete outside back we’ve seen in England since Elliot Daly and Jonathan Joseph emerged,” Watson adds.
“All of those guys can play multiple positions close to a world-class level and they have all the skills. There isn’t an area of Freemo’s game that is a weakness. He can kick, he can run it straight. He can beat people with feet, he’s brilliant in the air. He’s an excellent defender both when tackling and making decisions. He’s so multi-faceted that it makes him a really, really special player.
“Added to that he’s physically blessed. It’s hard to understand how big and strong he is. I remember the first few times he went into England camp, he’d be one of those guys who never gave up on a play. He’d go 100 per cent until the very end.
“Those guys are worth their weight in gold when it matters most. He was always good, but in these last 18 months, he has come on and really cemented himself as one of England’s most important players.”
Northampton need a miracle to retain their Premiership title, but will hope to oust Castres and return to another Champions Cup semi-final. With players such as Freeman in tow, and even with true heavyweight rivals around, their supporters can continue to dream of more silverware.
All eight quarter-finals across both EPCR competitions, including Northampton Saints vs Castres in the Investec Champions Cup, will be shown on Premier Sports this weekend. Visit www.premiersports.tv for more information.
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