Northampton Saints continue their Champions Cup campaign tomorrow night, as they host Toulon under the Friday night lights of Franklin’s Gardens. The Saints began their competition with a confident 28-19 win over Glasgow Warriors, and handed the Scottish side just their second home defeat in two years.
This victory came on a European weekend, which saw eight of the 10 Premiership sides record victories across the Champions and Challenge Cup competitions. Northampton Saints Director of Rugby Phil Dowson discussed the caveat of a rare away win at Scotstoun Stadium, and how the Premiership’s impressive winning ratio across the opening weekend in Europe speaks volumes of the talent across the league. However, Dowson now expects the French clubs such as Toulon, to be “roaring back with a vengeance.”
“I think it’s good for the confidence of what we’re trying to do. We talked about that (tough away wins) the week before at Saracens, we talked about that at Sale, for the first game of the season. If you can give yourself a chance of getting into these games away from home, in how you defend and how physically you are, and how good your set pieces are under pressure, all those sorts of elements away from home, it does give you the confidence that you can go somewhere, and know that if you’re at your best, you can get results.
“We talked a little bit about the fact that we’re going from a 13 team league, to a 10 team league and the concentration of talent in terms of the playing group in 10 (Premiership) teams. I think that’s borne out by some of those results. I think the French will come roaring back with a vengeance, I would have thought in terms of the quality they have. But, I think it’s a very positive shot in the arm really for the Premiership, in terms of how competitive it is, and how much quality there is throughout the league.”
There is boundless quality across the Premiership clubs, with numerous top level talents all gunning for the same jersey within Steve Borthwick’s England squad. One of the Saints stand-out talents this season has been Tommy Freeman, who has presented an excellent adaptability to star across the midfield, wings and fullback. Freeman has already scored 10 tries in all competitions, and added his latest two in the away triumph over Glasgow.
With Joe Marchant moving on from the England squad in his exit to Stade Francais, Freeman looks like a suitable covering option given his versatile talents across the back-line. In a style akin to Marchant, Freeman excels with his pace down the touchlines, but also packs a line-breaking punch when used to bolster the centres. Dowson has certainly been impressed by Freeman’s performances so far this season, and believes his talents would be suited to the test match stage. However, the Saints Director of Rugby recognises the depth of talent amongst the viable candidates for the England centre spots.
“Tommy played a bit of centre when he was younger, he’s obviously played some fullback for us. And it’s just something that we had experimented with in pre-season (playing centre). He’d sort of shown an interest in getting into that 13 slot. I mean, he’s more than capable, he’s such a talented player in terms of how he identifies space and physical attributes.
“I think the more often you get him the ball the better, and if he’s getting more ball at 13, he’s got the ability to go fast, to go through, to move the ball, or to drop it on his foot. You know, he’s a very, very talented player. I don’t think there’s one position at the moment where I’d say he’s ‘definitely that’, because you stick him on the wings, stick him on at fullback, I think you still get loads of those qualities. I think there’s another string to his bow, and I think is another feather in the cap of (Northampton Head Coach) Sam Vesty, in terms of trying different things, and giving people opportunities in different positions.
“Clearly Ollie Lawrence is tearing up trees in the centre, but in terms of all those other opportunities, Henry Slade’s going particularly well. So, you know, whenever you’re talking about international rugby it’s going to be competitive, but one thing you know, what Tommy is doing currently, is putting his hand up to capable of playing the highest level in that position.”
Freeman has three England test caps to his name, excluding his unofficial debut against the Barbarians in the Summer of 2022. He was apart of Eddie Jones’ squad that toured Australia, with the former Wallabies Head Coach awarding Freeman two run outs against his homeland. The 22-year-old’s last appearence in an England shirt was in last year’s Autumn defeat to South Africa, as he then failed to make the grade for the Rugby World Cup squad.
However, with so much versatility to his game, Borthwick could well call upon Freeman’s talents for next February’s 2024 Six Nations. The Northampton Saints man could slot into the vacancies left by Marchant or Jonny May, following the Gloucester wing’s international retirement. Dowson then discussed how Borthwick has been interested in Freeman’s positional variations, after a Summer of preparations with the wider England training squad.
“Tommy is somebody who was in the England camp last year, before the World Cup. Or was in and amongst it, and had some feedback from Richard Wigglesworth and Steve (Borthwick). He was given some set of bits to work on, that wasn’t a million miles away from what we’re talking to him about either (at Saints). Steve mentioned around what our thoughts were in putting him at 13, and that he was interested in watching how he’s going to go.”
“As I mentioned before, there’s loads of other players as well, who are going to throw their hat in the ring for that. For me, Slade’s on top of my mind, with him kicking the goal this weekend. I watched him play for Exeter, and how well he’s doing in that group, I think he’s been outstanding. So there’s loads of guys around there, but ultimately, Freeman was putting his name forward.”
“You know, Hutch (Rory Hutchinson), Dingers (Fraser Dingwall) all these guys are working hard from a physical point of view. Because you know, the importance of it at Premiership level, European level, International level. Tommy’s a bit of a specimen, he’s big and fast. He’s got that Chris Ashton ability to repeat the speed. He can go, recover, go, recover, like a border collie. So he can chase breaks down, and vice versa, he can be on the shoulder of breaks very quickly.”
One Northampton player who looks set to be out of Borthwick’s plans next February, is Courtney Lawes. The legendary lock called time on his test match career after the Rugby World Cup, and hung up his test match boots after 105 England caps, and a further five for the British & Irish Lions. Lawes has long been a leader in the Saints changing rooms, and Dowson discussed how his mentoring role has progressed, throughout his tenured run at Franklin’s Gardens.
“I don’t think that’s anything to do really with international (retirement). I think as he’s got older, as you become older through the system, and you become an elder statesman, in any sort of environment, you need that mentorship, and you learn to deal with it.
“A lot of the talented players look up to him. He’s got so much to offer, from an experience and a technical nause point of view, I think he does that naturally. I don’t think that’s either increased or decreased with the retirement from international (rugby), I think that’s probably just a symptom of getting older and dealing with the young lads around him to try and coach them as much as possible while he’s playing.”