Tommy Freeman ended 2025 in style, carving through Bath’s defence like a hot knife through butter to score a stunning hat-trick in a statement Northampton win.
With Freeman to the fore in a team missing a host of his England colleagues, the Saints inflicted a first home league defeat on the reigning champions since October 2024. It was a display of pace and panache that marked Phil Dowson’s men out as a side clearly capable of winning the PREM Rugby title in 2026.
It rubberstamped Freeman as one of the best players in the country and brought the curtain down on a fine year. In 2025, Freeman was a key figure for an England side which won 11 of their 12 Tests. He also started all three Tests for the Lions on their successful tour of Australia and was part of a Northampton side that reached the Champions Cup final. So, what’s next?
‘I want to be involved with the England setup and be at the top of the top,’ Freeman, 24, tells Daily Mail Sport. ‘Hopefully I can set some more records, whatever that looks like. We have a great group with England. We’ve played with each other for a long time now, so it’s really exciting to see what’s next for us.’
After sealing an autumn clean sweep for the first time since 2017 last November, Steve Borthwick’s England are in a good position going into the 2026 Six Nations, starting next month at home to Wales.
That is Freeman’s next international challenge, having last year become the first Englishman to score in all five rounds of the championship.
Tommy Freeman has become a key part of the England team and has helped them win 11 Tests on the bounce heading into the Six Nations
The winger-cum-centre helped Northampton demolish Bath last weekend
Freeman scores his third try during the Champions Cup semi-final victory over Leinster in May, a statement victory for the club
Before that, however, club duty with Northampton and a meeting with struggling Harlequins on Saturday is his main focus. Dowson’s Saints were PREM champions in 2024 but could only finish eight of 10 last season – mainly as they were busy on a European charge, making it all the way to the final with a famous win away at Leinster in the semi-final.
When Courtney Lawes and Lewis Ludlam departed the club after the Prem success, Saints lost two of their best players when at the peak of their powers
But the 41-21 hammering of Bath – which took place with England aces Alex Mitchell, Fin Smith, Fraser Dingwall, Alex Coles and George Furbank all rested – showed director of rugby Dowson has rebuilt a squad with impressive depth with Freeman front and centre of it.
‘He’s world-class,’ Dowson says of Freeman. ‘There’s no other way of saying it. His ability and size makes him one of the best in Britain, both from a defensive and attacking point of view. Also, his ability to be dominant in the air is second to none.’
Freeman started England’s autumn campaign at outside centre before moving back to his more common position of wing before injury struck.
Daily Mail Sport columnist and England’s 2003 World Cup-winning coach Sir Clive Woodward believes England must start Freeman at No 13. Regardless of position, Freeman is undoubtedly in Borthwick’s first-choice XV when fit – it’s just a case of where.
‘It’s still a challenge,’ Freeman says of his moves between the back three and midfield. ‘There is loads to learn, but I’m enjoying it. Maybe I’m just a bit slow! Some of the wingers these days are getting very quick, so I’ve had to go in one position. Maybe I’ll get to 10 one day!
‘I wouldn’t say I’m switching positions permanently. I just think centre is an option. Where we see me with Northampton and England is that I can bring both options and therefore cover two positions.’
‘We have a great group with England,’ says Freeman. ‘We’ve played with each other for a long time now, so it’s really exciting to see what’s next for us’
Freeman started all three Tests for the Lions on their successful tour of Australia in the summer
Daily Mail Sport columnist and England’s 2003 World Cup-winning coach Sir Clive Woodward believes England must start Freeman at No 13
Freeman ripped Bath to pieces when starting in midfield and stays there for Harlequins alongside returning captain Dingwall.
Northampton are sitting pretty at the top of the Prem Rugby pile, but for Harlequins it’s a very different story.
The London club shipped a total of 83 points across their two Christmas games with Bristol and Sale. Defeats by the scorelines of 40-14 and 43-17 have seen Harlequins slip to eighth place with just two wins from eight league matches all season.
Their senior coach Jason Gilmore admitted after the Sale loss his team’s Prem play-off hopes have already gone.
‘I’m nervous about it,’ Dowson says of his team’s latest challenge. ‘The narrative last week was that Bath were the form horse and we weren’t going to be competitive because of the selection. The narrative has been flipped now. Quins are a very, very dangerous side.
‘They’ll be very disappointed with their last two weekends. The fortnight they’ve had over Christmas has been tough, they’ll be wounded. We’re in good shape and Bath has given us momentum, but that momentum can switch very quickly. We’re conscious of that.
‘There are lots of players who have had a week off and seen that (Bath) performance and now can’t wait to play this weekend. That drives our level in training and is exactly what we want as coaches.
‘The games we had in the PREM last year, particularly towards the back end of the season, have been really beneficial in terms of giving experience to our younger players. They are so much more confident now off the back of that.’
England’s Northampton contingent (from left) Fin Smith, Freeman, Alex Smith and Ollie Sleightholme celebrate Six Nations victory over France in February
Flying full-back George Hendy could be the next Saint to shine in an England shirt
That confidence will be high with the key men who missed the sinking of Bath all back, save for England full-back Furbank who remains a player of interest to Harlequins.
The stellar form of George Hendy means he continues in the Saints No 15 shirt. Hendy, who has represented England at Under 20s and A level, is a dark horse for Six Nations selection while Mitchell and Smith are back as the half-back partnership.
England playmaker Marcus Smith, who has struggled for form in a team lacking confidence, is at No 10 for Quins. But they are without England prop Fin Baxter and have Wales’ Jarrod Evans – a fly-half – in the unusual position of inside centre
If Freeman and Saints continue the red-hot form they showed in Bath, another heavy Harlequins defeat is likely.
