‘A few wrongs right’ – Tommy Freeman out to make All Blacks star’s ‘life a misery’

Jared Wright
All Blacks star Sevu Reece and England winger Tommy Freeman

All Blacks star Sevu Reece and England winger Tommy Freeman

England star Tommy Freeman is out to make Sevu Reece’s game a “misery” when Steve Borthwick’s side take on the All Blacks for the third time this year.

After losing twice in New Zealand in July, England host the All Blacks at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham this Saturday with the aim of replicating the 38-21 victory in 2012.

Freeman is likely to face off against All Blacks flyer Reece, who caused a stir in July by stating that he knew little about the Northampton Saints back and his fellow England wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso.

That would have changed by the end of the two Test matches as Feyi-Waboso crossed for tries in both matches and Freeman scored in the second game.

“A few wrongs right”

“Not fussed if they do or don’t know me to be honest. The more you play, the more you’ll get known,” Freeman said.

“Hopefully if I can make his game a misery it’s a win for me and that will make him remember me.”

While England lost both Tests, they were in with a shot of winning had they shown a little more composure at crucial moments.

Head coach Borthwick has challenged his players to start turning narrow defeats into memorable wins having fallen just short against New Zealand twice, France and South Africa since the start of the 2023 World Cup.

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“They were a tough two games to narrowly miss out on,” Freeman added.

“We felt like the last game could have gone either way decision-wise. To miss out like that is always difficult.

“We’ll definitely want to put a few wrongs right and really get stuck into them on our home ground.”

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2012 victory

The All Blacks are on a four-game unbeaten run at Twickenham Stadium since Manu Tuilagi inspired England to victory in 2012.

Since then, England lost three times in a row before drawing in the most recent encounter in 2022.

Saints star Freeman still recalls the 38-21 win under Stuart Lancaster even though he was only 11 at the time.

“I was boarding at school and I remember watching it – Manu was on one. Everything worked that day for England with their strikes,” he said.

“Manu was breaking the line a lot and hopefully we can see the same from Ollie Lawrence on Saturday.

“We want the crowd to be rocking. They are always up for England against New Zealand. It will be exciting.”

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