Saints star gives Steve Borthwick an ‘interesting decision’ against the ‘best in the league’
Northampton Saints boss Phil Dowson and Tommy Freeman celebrates with his Saints team-mates.
Northampton Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson said he is keen to see how England utilise Tommy Freeman during their upcoming end-of-year internationals after he starred in his club’s 47-17 victory over Sale Sharks on Friday.
Freeman featured on the wing during Northampton’s first four matches of the Premiership campaign but wore the number 13 jersey against Sale and Dowson feels his impressive performance could create a selection conundrum for England head coach Steve Borthwick.
Friday’s match at Franklin’s Gardens was Freeman‘s last in the Premiership as he is set to join the Red Rose squad ahead of their Tests against the All Blacks, Wallabies, Springboks and Japan.
Can shine in several positions
And Dowson believes the 23-year-old’s ability to shine in several positions will leave Borthwick with a nice problem.
“He’s obviously adept at all those positions – full-back, wing, 13 today – and the more you get him on the ball the better,” he said.
“He got some space today and he showed what a capable player he is.
“I think Steve’s got some great decisions to make in that space – Henry Slade is one of the best in the league and I think he’s back fit, so he’s got some decisions to make in terms of how he balances that up.
“I would be surprised if he [Freeman] was not in the mix somewhere and where he fits and how he fits and how they get him in the game is interesting.”
Premiership champions Northampton were keen to get their campaign on track after losing to Leicester last week and raced into an early 12-3 lead after Freeman and George Furbank crossed for tries before Sale struck back via a Luke Cowan-Dickie five-pointer.
Fin Smith and Tommy Freeman lay down England markers as Northampton Saints hammer Sale Sharks
However, things went pear-shaped for the visitors when young wing Alex Willis was yellow carded and Saints responded with three tries in six minutes as Ollie Sleightholme scored a brace and Tom James also dotted down.
George Hendy’s intercept score gave Northampton a 40-10 lead at half-time and although Joe Carpenter narrowed the gap with Sale’s second try early in the second half, a James Ramm score on the hour-mark clinched the champions’ 18th successive victory at Franklin’s Gardens.
Dowson added: “In the derby [at Leicester], we didn’t convert a lot of our opportunities and today, via the bounce of the ball and a stroke of luck, we converted pretty much everything.”
Meanwhile, Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson accepted his share of the responsibility for his team’s display.
‘I think that’s down to the preparation’
“They were sharp and aggressive and I think we played too loose against an angry side, if I’m honest, and I think that’s down to the preparation,” he said.
“I’ve said I’m taking that off the boys – as coaches we probably didn’t focus on the right things in the week and that looseness showed in the turnover tries a lack of physicality in defence in some of those opening sets.
“We found ourselves 30 points down at half-time and that climb’s too steep and too long against a decent team.
“Our execution in attack was as poor as it’s been, and it has been good so that was the exception over the last three weeks, at least.
“It’s very difficult to put a finger on it without having looked at the tape, but I think the mentality drives your behaviours and I think I got that wrong this week.”
