Tommy Freeman developed a mindset predisposed to overcoming adversity – a hardwiring process based on painful experiences, both physical and emotional. It has shaped the person and player he’s become, latterly as an England international but primarily with the Northampton Saints, for whom the 24-year-old is a standout player.
It started at a young age. A talented hockey player in his adolescence, his early experiences in rugby were bruising, especially to the ego, as the young then outhalf saw others preferred for the starting role. Those judgments included being perceived as too small at one point for professional rugby, a decision that saw him released by the Leicester Tigers academy.
Away from the pitch, he faced a more formidable opponent: epilepsy, first diagnosed at 13, the manifestation of which he has described as “the stares”, a symptom the medical diagnosis likens to “losing awareness and staring blankly into space”. It knocked on the head a desire to become a pilot.
Freeman has never shirked discussing the condition since going public with his epilepsy, only previously known to family and close friends, with his desire being to inspire others not to give up on their dreams if faced with a similar challenge. He’s received oodles of letters, both powerful and poignant.
His teachers thought that Freeman “was a spacey kind of kid”, but an incident in the classroom where he just stopped and stared while reading aloud mobilised a different plan of action. “That was the wake-up call. I was taken to hospital, they did all the tracks and head scans, and I was put on tablets, with nothing from it for about two years over GCSE [exams], [it was] all good,” he said.
“Then at 16, I came off the tablets because they said, ‘you probably had it since you were really young, you have probably grown out of it’.” It was an accurate appraisal, until his first and so far only tonic-clonic seizure, otherwise known as petit mal seizure, at 19.
School reunion, alcohol and lack of sleep were some of the peripheral factors, the return of the “stares” a red flag moment before he succumbed to a full-blown fit, 20 minutes after arriving home from the night out. He woke up in the ambulance.
Freeman explained: “All the checks were done to rule out anything to do with rugby. Because of my history, the neurologists rediagnosed me with epilepsy.
“The worst part was not being able to drive for about two years. To begin with I was on the tablets that I’d been on when I was younger, you have to be a year free of ‘stares’ to be cleared to drive, and at one point I had to start the year again.
“As a precaution, I won’t go swimming on my own, I like there to be someone around. I wouldn’t put that responsibility in the hands of a stranger. It is the same with taking a bath, I won’t have one if my girlfriend isn’t there in the room.”
He has been symptom-free since then. However, there were other hurdles. Having been let go by Leicester, he earned a place in Northampton’s academy. During a growth spurt and in trying to add weight to his frame to withstand the rigours of professional rugby, it left him with severe tendinitis in both knees that necessitated surgery performed in Sweden by specialist Hakan Alfredson.
A try in a preseason friendly against Leinster in 2019 marked his first for the club and he hasn’t really looked back or paused since in the scoring stakes, accumulating 56 in 96 matches. He played against the Sale Sharks a week later in the Premiership Cup and then ticked another notable landmark when making his Premiership debut as a 19-year-old against Bath in 2020.
He’d morphed into a 6ft 2in fullback at this point, but since then he’s been positionally nomadic having played on the right wing, primarily, left wing and outside centre. A stint with the England Under-20s was followed by a call-up to Eddie Jones’s senior squad for the 2021 November Test series.
He wasn’t capped then but 14 tries in 18 appearances for the Saints that season, including a final-day hat-trick against the Newcastle Falcons, earned him a debut and two caps on England’s successful summer tour to Australia.
Recovering from an early season injury in time to play in England’s final game of the 2022 Autumn Nations series against the Springboks, he was removed at half-time along with the entire frontrow in Jones’s last game as head coach, a 27-13 defeat. It punctured his confidence.
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Freeman admitted: “With Eddie leaving off the back of it, I didn’t really get an explanation for why, and I still couldn’t tell you to this day.
“I had Mum and Dad there, two brothers who’d never seen me play before, live anyway, my girlfriend, girlfriend’s brother, girlfriend’s parents and my best mate. I remember going up to the [post-match] table and you could sense from them, ‘just act normal’.
“The tears probably came later that evening, to be honest. But my attitude became: ‘we bin that off and move forward’. As long as I play well for my club and put myself in the spotlight to get another opportunity [with England], that’s all I can control.”
He honoured his word, although others took a little more convincing. Steve Borthwick, Jones’s successor as England head coach, called him into the pre-World Cup 2023 camp but didn’t make the squad that travelled to France. Freeman said in an interview last year: “I did not stick my chest out and I was probably guilty of not making the most of it.
“I wanted to look really laid back, but I was maybe too laid back. I was kicked in the face for that.” He was restored to the national side for the 2024 Six Nations, playing every match, three summer Tests, four games in the November series and all five in this season’s Six Nations.
In Northampton colours, he helped the club win the English Premiership title last season and also reach the Champions Cup semi-final, where he lined up at outside centre as Northampton lost 20-17 to Leinster at the Aviva Stadium.
His numbers on that occasion were among the most impressive on his team and included a linebreak, an offload, two defenders beaten, seven carries for 47 metres and 11 tackles. On Saturday the two clubs square off once again, same game status, same venue.
Freeman has blossomed into a player of Test-match stature, one that should be rewarded with selection for the Lions summer tour to Australia. Pace, strength, athleticism, aerial prowess and good hands combine with a predator’s eye.
The fact that he can fit in seamlessly across the three-quarter line not only underlines his versatility, but his disparate skill sets. This season he’s scored 13 tries in 16 matches, six in his last three games, three in his last two Champions Cup matches, Leinster all too aware that shackling Freeman will enhance the prospect of a victory.
