Brick by brick, much as he did with Lego during his recent injury lay-off, Tommy Freeman built a formidable body of work over the past 12 months. By his own admission, he had not begun the year as a front-runner to start on the wing for the British & Irish Lions on their tour to Australia. But as he crossed for try after try in the Six Nations, becoming the first England player to touch down in every round of the tournament, he became a clear contender.
His efforts in propelling Northampton Saints to the Champions Cup final strengthened his case and, by the time the Lions arrived in Australia, he had become a firm favourite. Freeman started all three Tests against the Wallabies as the Lions’ series victory crowned a breakthrough season for him. “It all feels so long ago already, but to have a year like that, to finish the season the way I did, was pretty special,” he said. “But the game moves on quickly and I don’t think you really look back and enjoy those moments properly until you’ve hung up the boots.”
Such is the nature of his profession that Freeman now views the achievements of 2025 merely as a building block towards his goals for next year. Indeed, he feels a pressing desire to prove his mettle once more. This is partly due to the hamstring injury he sustained during the autumn internationals, having played in England’s first two victories, over Australia and Fiji, but which then ruled him out for six weeks before his return to action for Northampton against Sale last weekend. And this is where the Lego comes in.
Freeman battles through the rain and Australia’s defence during the third Lions Test in Sydney
DAVID DAVIES/PA
“It’s always boring in rehab, you start losing your mind and just want to chuck a ball about, but you’re stuck in the gym and you have to find your own motivation,” he said. “I’m a big Lego fan. I’ve built a Porsche, I’ve got a Land Rover to do and a big TT bike I’ve been bought, and I’m sure I’ll have more at Christmas. It’s a good way to keep me off my phone. So I got through [the injury lay-off] OK, I was back a week earlier than anticipated. I’m just happy to be back and, after a bit of a disjointed start to the season, I feel like I need to prove myself again.”
A determination, clearly, not to rest on the laurels gained last season, with the Six Nations not too far away. “Once you’ve gone on one tour, you want to go on another,” he said. “Once you’ve scored five tries [in the Six Nations], you want to go one further and do it the following year. That’s where my mind is at the moment. I’ve got more to prove and more to give.”
One area in which Freeman, 24, hopes to develop his game is the versatility that playing at outside centre can bring. He started at No13 for England against Australia before reverting to the wing against Fiji and has continued to work across both positions in training with Northampton.
Freeman started at outside centre against Australia in the autumn and says he’ll keep trying to crack the position
PAUL HARDING/GETTY IMAGES
“Yeah, I’m trying to work on centre a lot,” he said. “We have individual skills we do, there’s a high-ball group and a midfield group, and I’m involved in both. If I’m playing centre, I just want to get the training minutes in there. If I’m on the wing, I want to get the training minutes there and do my high-ball stuff. I’m making sure both sets of skills are topped up. I’ll always strive for something more and playing around with centre as well gives me that new challenge.”
England play their first Six Nations match in six weeks, at home against Wales, as they attempt to win the tournament for the first time in six years. Hopes are high after a clean sweep in the autumn, extending their winning sequence to 11 matches — a streak which started with that last-gasp victory over France, when Freeman’s try sparked a comeback, as he rose high to claim a cross-kick from Fin Smith, his Northampton team-mate. Something clicked for Steve Borthwick’s side after that and Freeman identifies that game as his favourite England match of 2025. “We went down early, but then went score for score and ground out a win,” he said. “Fin went well at No10 and it was a cool day for us Saints lads. That was a pretty special game.”
His favourite outing in a Northampton shirt this year was the remarkable 37-34 victory in the Champions Cup semi-final against Leinster at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Freeman scored a first-half hat-trick in a brilliant attacking performance to give Saints a win against the odds. “Everyone wrote us off, we went in with nothing to lose,” he said. “To get a hat-trick and then hold them out at the end, that felt like the final itself to be honest.”
Freeman scoring one of his three first-half tries against Leinster
DAVID ROGERS/GETTY IMAGES
Saints were beaten 28-20 in the final by Bordeaux Bègles and the goal for Freeman this season is to go one better, with club and country. England are aiming to finish one place higher in the Six Nations than their runners-up slot last season, while Northampton have started the season well and go into a top-of-the-table clash away to Bath this weekend just three points behind the league leaders.
“They won the league last year and they’ve got a hell of a squad,” Freeman said. “They’ve got an attacking mindset similar to ours, but we’re a good team as well. We’ll look to move the ball and go down there and get after them. And hopefully next year we can win some trophies, both at Saints and with England as well.”
● Tommy Freeman was speaking at “the big cinchmas wrap”, where Saints’ players were wrapping presents for fans and raising money for the Northampton Saints Foundation alongside the UK’s leading online used car retailer, cinch
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