The Gallagher Prem has been spiced up over the past week by the return to action of its British & Irish Lions.
The availability of such star names is a huge boost for the clubs, but there is also a recognition that, given the Lions tour to Australia extended their 2024-25 season into August, it will have taken a huge physical and emotional toll.
They have all benefited from the mandatory ten-week stand-down period — five weeks of rest and five weeks of pre-season training — but coaches across the Prem are conscious that the season after a Lions tour can bring its own particular challenges. For some, that means dealing with fatigue; for others, such as Henry Pollock, that means dealing with the frustration of not making the Test team.
Saints were initially the English team with the biggest Lions contingent. From left: Pollock, Smith, Mitchell and Freeman
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Some clubs have more to manage than others. Northampton Saints were the English team who initially provided the greatest Lions contingent, although their tally of four — Tommy Freeman, Fin Smith, Alex Mitchell and Pollock — was later equalled by Saracens when Jamie George was called up during the tour. Owen Farrell, another mid-tour call-up, also became a Saracens player again at the start of this season after leaving Racing 92.
Maro Itoje, the Lions captain, returns for his first outing of the season, making his 200th Saracens appearance at home to Sale Sharks on Saturday. Freeman has recovered from the hip injury that forced him from the field in Saints’ victory over Leicester Tigers last weekend, and will line up away to Newcastle Red Bulls on Friday evening. There has been much talk of the possibility of Freeman shifting from the wing to play at outside centre for England this season, but he will further demonstrate his versatility by starting at full back for his club.
Freeman started all three Tests for the Lions and Mitchell featured in every matchday squad on tour, coming off the bench in two of the Tests, which the Saints’ coaches will bear in mind over the coming weeks.
Freeman is fit to start for Saints at the weekend despite coming off injured against Leicester last week
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“It’s different for those four guys, because they all had different tours,” Phil Dowson, the Northampton director of rugby, said. “Freemo had a lot of rugby and played a lot of games. We want to make sure he stays fresh and he keeps love of the game, that he’s excited about training, rather than seeing it as a slog. So we may have to manage him differently. Mitch would be quite similar, he played a lot of rugby in Australia.”
In contrast, despite relishing the Lions experience at an early stage in their international careers, neither Smith, 23, nor Pollock, 20, were able force their way into the Test squads. While Smith starts at No10 against Newcastle, Pollock will be on the bench for the second consecutive game.
“Henry had such a rollercoaster last year, with his exponential rise to fame, and that needs to be managed slightly differently,” Dowson said. “He was very frustrated that he didn’t play in the Lions Tests and so he’s got a bit of a scab to pick. He wants to take the next step on his journey to become a consistent starter for England.
Pollock will start his second consecutive game on the bench for Saints this weekend
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“Fin Smith has come from a Lions environment where he’s training with Finn Russell, he’s working with Andy Farrell and chatting to Johnny Sexton, and he’s now just so hungry to input some of the stuff that he’s learnt. Fin’s a bit like Henry in that he’s got a bit of an axe to grind. There’s different ways of looking at it, each of them has come in after an emotional and profile-changing summer. We have to be mindful of that, talk to them about it and understand where they’re at.”
Lions tours can act as a springboard for some players’ careers, but others have struggled in the next season. After touring South Africa with the Lions in 2021, Louis Rees-Zammit, having made a stellar start to his international career with Wales the previous season, was dropped during the next Six Nations.
After this weekend’s fixtures, the England squad head into camp for three days to begin preparations for the autumn internationals and then, a week later, those England players leave for a month on international duty, with the first game against Australia at Twickenham a week on Saturday.
Mitchell admitted he struggled early in his career with the change of styles from club to country
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As they divide their time between club and country, the England players must also negotiate a disjointed programme, adjusting between different set-ups and styles of play. “I struggled with that a bit early in my career, going back and forth,” Mitchell said. “But I’ve had it that way for a couple of years now, you’re always coming and going, you learn to appreciate it and take it for what it is.”
With such a large contingent of international players, Dowson has seen that players learn to cope with the quirks of the season as they gain experience. “The person who was best at going from club to country and back again was Courtney Lawes, and that was because he’d done it so much,” Dowson said. “Last year, we had Fin Smith finishing the Six Nations with his stock very high and then having to drop back into this environment. He’d not done that before and as a starting No10, it takes some experimenting as to how you do that.
“Just going through that experience last year will be tremendously beneficial for Fin, he’ll be better for it this year. It’s a fragmented season for these boys and learning to deal with that is a skill in itself.”
Newcastle Red Bulls v Northampton Saints
Gallagher Prem, Friday, 7.45pm
TV: TNT Sports Extra