England’s 13-month long campaign has finally come to a close, with the second Test against the All Blacks bringing about an end to their 2023/24 season. Starting back in June 2023 for the Rugby World Cup warm-up matches, Steve Borthwick’s side have grown insurmountably from the squad that took a first ever loss to Fiji at Twickenham.
Borthwick ushered in an era of change, after his side brought home Bronze medals from Rugby World Cup. With plenty of top talents hanging up their Test match boots, or cutting down their England careers to pursue opportunities overseas, England had no choice but to start a fresh for the 2024 Guinness Six Nations.
Borthwick introduced five new caps for the opening round in Italy, as Fin Smith, Ethan Roots, Chandler Cunningham-South, Fraser Dingwall and Manny Feyi-Waboso got their first experiences of the Test match stage. Borthwick also brought back the likes of Tommy Freeman for an extended run in the squad, with the Saints man unceremoniously discarded after making his debut under Eddie Jones in 2022.
Freeman has been amongst England’s top attacking threats this past season, with the wing really coming into his stride on the Test match stage after a Premiership title winning season. Freeman entered New Zealand as an unknown threat for Scott Robertson’s side to handle, with the Saints man getting his name known in the land of the All Blacks.
“Playing at that level, is awesome.” Freeman said in the post match mix zone, after England’s defeat at Eden Park. “It is the best place to be but credit to New Zealand for hanging in there and throwing it all at us. Just gutted we couldn’t hold on till the end.”
“There is a bit of frustration, obviously we want to come away with a result in every game we play. But to be part of this team at the moment, I am so proud and the way we are playing, the way we are training with each other, it is going to click and we are going to be on the back end of good results. It has been awesome, an awesome journey to be part of so far.”
Freeman contributed an excellent try at Eden Park, as England pushed the All Blacks to their very limit to keep their 30-year streak of Auckland dominance in tact. The wing rose high to claim a cross-field kick from Marcus Smith, and towered over Mark Tele’a to grab and ground the ball for a try. Freeman was full of praise for the Harlequins talisman, and applauded Smith’s footballing prowess that assisted his score.
“Delighted to come away with that one. As soon as the advantage came I thought ‘I am in here, I am getting a shot’ and luckily all the hours in training came off.
“He (Marcus Smith) is not bad at that is he? He was class, he can put it on a penny and let us down our thing and both times were good.”
An early All Blacks press conference in New Zealand, saw wing Sevu Reece admit to not knowing much about England’s wings, with Freeman and Manny Feyi-Waboso out to impress. Both the Northampton and Exeter wings tore the house down in Dunedin and Auckland, with Feyi-Waboso also crossing over for a try in the second Test.
“Manny is a few years younger than me and it blows my mind because he has got a body like Tarzan. It is awesome to see him doing well and playing alongside him on the wing and to have Fred (Steward) there today, and when Furbs (George Furbank) is there it is class.”
“It is exciting for the future to have a young Test match squad for where this team is going to go.”
“That (respect of the All Blacks) was touched on in the changing room. We try not to listen too much to the outside noise, we have gone about our business, focussed on what we needed to focus and what we need to get better at. It is coming into place, we have just got to get those ‘Ws.'”
Freeman echoed the thoughts of the entire England squad, who are eagerly anticipating the Autumn International Test against the All Blacks. New Zealand head up to Twickenham for a blockbuster match-up this coming November 2nd, with Freeman in the mindset of ‘righting some wrongs’ at the home of English rugby.
“Definitely going to enjoy the (Summer) break, it has been a hell of a season. 55 weeks or whatever but we will definitely be excited to have them at our place, put a few wrong right and hopefully come away with it.”
With plenty of time to hone in on the short-comings made out in New Zealand, Freeman will be putting in the work alongside his England back-three teammates when the 2024/25 season rolls around. The trio were impressive throughout the Summer tour of Japan and New Zealand, yet Freeman expressed how he is looking to tighten up their defensive co-ordination, under the guidance of England defensive coach Felix Jones.
“We pick up a lot more cues. Last week we were commitng to our defence and that is what we do but also trying to be smart at the same time. We knew they were going to bring a kicking threat this week and try to get the ball to space, and they identified that.
“For us wingers, it was commit to our guns of what we think they are going to do. And if we have a bit of space there that is Felix’s man so we’ll recover and get back.”