Northampton Saints are eyeing up their first Premiership title in a decade, as they are set to take on Bath this Saturday in the season finale. Twickenham Stadium is reportedly at it’s maximum capacity, with the two titans of the Premiership ready to lift the roof off the home of English rugby.
Northampton and England wing Tommy Freeman is eagerly anticipating this shot at silverware, in what would be an unforgettable triumph for the men in green, black and gold. As much as the Saints would like to keep this training week ‘business as usual’, their is no denying the increase of emotions that are trickling out at Franklin’s Gardens.
Freeman admits to being no exception, and recognises how significant this Saturday’s final is to the Saints, and to his own personal career. Having not reached the Premiership’s pinnacle showcase at Twickenham before, the exhilarating wing recognises the step up in performances and accredits defence coach Lee Radford for keeping the ship lock-tight at the back.
“I’ve been at the club now for five, six years and I’ve just missed out. Been in a semi final, two against Saracens one against Leicester. So yeah, it feels different in terms of where we are as a club. But, not really, we’re kind of trying to keep each week as simple, and the same kind of messages have been sent as they have been all season really.”
“I couldn’t put it down to one (change) but obviously Radders (Lee Radford) coming in has been a massive help with our defence. I think that fight he’s given us, to fight right to the end of every every fixture, you saw that away in Munster to get that win and here at home.
“I just think every game we’ve been a part of we’ve not given up, we’ve not given anything away. Even when we’ve been on top of teams, I think there’s probably a history of us kind of taking our foot off the gas a little bit. I think that’s definitely changed in this season. Just staying staying on the gas or clawing back as much as we can if we are in behind.”
Whilst the young Saints players are anxiously trying to keep a cool head in Finals week, one operator amongst the old guard makes even the most high stakes fixtures seem like just another game. Courtney Lawes is set for his Northampton swansong this Saturday, in what will be the last match before he departs for Brive.
Saints players and coaching staff have long been waxing lyrical about their courageous captain, and were once again singing his praises come the end of the semi-final triumph over Saracens. In true Lawes style, the titanic forward turned the ball over in the match’s final play, to send his side through to the final in what will be his last outing. Freeman reflected on Lawes’ leadership for both club and country, and recalled his maiden run-out for England as an example of when he looked to Lawes for guidance.
“Yes (Courtney is) unbelievable. He’s one of a kind, one of the best players in the world, I’d say. I was lucky enough to share a room with him on the Australia tour (2022). And he looked after me quite well out there. So now our relationship is quite good and definitely want to finish on a high with him.”
“That’s probably one of the kind of attributes that Courts has, he is unbelievable what he does. He’s a massive leader. Through his actions. He speaks well when we kind of need him to.
“He lets everyone else play. I think you can, as a player, as a leader, you can probably talk too much at times and that can put people off or things in people’s heads. But I think he likes to let the boys play and he’ll put do his job, and be that cog in the wheel and let everyone do their job.
“Which is really good to have a player like that to lead by example and do the things he does around the pitch. Just gives you loads of confidence.”
With the likes of Lawes and Alex Waller get set for their Northampton send offs, the new generation of Saints players are chomping at the bit for Saturday’s season culmination. None more so than Fin Smith, as Freeman discussed how the young halfback has been getting under his opponents skin, with the Bath players only happy to respond.
“Not too much. Just Fin (Smith) and Ollie (Sleightholme). Yeah, I think it’s just Fin and Ollie to be honest. Yeah Fin’s a s*** stirrer if you like (laughs). Their both probably as bad as each other. But now it’ll be I think there’ll be strictly business.”
If Saints were to come away victorious from Twickenham on Saturday, it would round off a solid decade-long wait since their last title triumph. Recalling back to the 2014 Premiership Final, Saints Director of Rugby Phil Dowson was a replacement back-row and Alex Waller’s extra-time winner secured Northampton the win over Saracens in dramatic fashion. Freeman remembered where he was when Saints last lifted the league’s silverware, and how the former Quins fan had different club allegiances 10 years ago.
“I remember it, I think I was a big Quins fan when I was younger. So I was probably pretty gutted! But no, obviously, kind of the history of it. Leading up to this season, all the seasons I’ve been here as a Saint, that was kind of like the last memory that everyone talks about and the squad or catching up again at the 10 year reunion and things like that. So hearing it, you just want to be a part of it. So hopefully we can deliver that again.”
Regardless of his former alliances to the famous four quarters, Freeman is now well and truly green, black and gold through and through. With a back-line populated with some of England’s most promising young talents, Northampton are a devastating unit with Alex Mitchell, Fin Smith, Fraser Dingwall, Tommy Freeman, Ollie Sleightholme and George Furbank running at full-pelt.
Freeman believes that the togetherness of the back-line is a pivotal factor towards their renowned successes. The players seamlessly click into a telepathic gear from nine to 15, to find gaps and run rings around the hapless defensive opponents.
“I think a lot of is down to timing. If we’re connected before, I think that’s where you see us doing damage, like Furbs (George Furbank) and Burger (Odendaal) how connected they were when Burger went through (to score vs Saracens).
“But, that’s the matter when you’re not connected and your a bit too wide, or you’re not on the same page, that’s when you can kind of get kind of smoked a little bit.
Being that extra bit away definitely does help you kind of hold that contact a bit more. Exactly like that. You know, timing is probably everything.”
Freeman sounded off his anticipation for the Final in the style of a battle-tested veteran. Understanding how his side had the opportunity to win the league and European double a few short weeks ago, Freeman discussed the learnings from the defeat to Leinster, in the Champions Cup semi-final.
With the loss at Croke Park firmly in the rear-view mirror, Freeman can look back and pick apart what went wrong so that his side can turn their fortunes around for their incoming finale against Finn Russell and his Bath army.
“It was a tough arena to go to it was a tough place. The frustrating thing from that was, you obviously saw towards the end that we thought we could have done it. And if we put our game on the park a little bit sooner and were a bit more physical from the from the off, we were to come away with something. But yeah, I think that gives us all confidence, to be honest, going into these next few games of that when we are hard to stop.”