Freeman stars as Northampton beat Bath to go top of Prem

The Prem.

Bath (14) 21

Du Toit 2, Dunn Cons, Russell 3, and Du Toit 2 are the results.

Northampton (14) 41

Northampton defeated Bath 41-21 in a thrilling encounter at the Recreation Ground, which was followed by a hat-trick of tries by Tommy Freeman as the team won the Prem.

As Saints’ visitors ended a run of 11 straight wins at home for the reigning Prem champions, Henry Pollock, Freeman’s England teammate, scored two more tries, with Archie MacParland scoring one more.

The television match official gave the Saints 27 unopposed points in the second half as they dominated in almost every area of the field and saw two more potential tries chalked off by the official.

Despite making ten changes to their starting lineups, Bath and Saints had players like Fin Smith, George Furbank, and Alex Mitchell who were all missing.

Bath have not lost in the Prem since October 5, 2024, but the third minute saw Freeman cut a fine diagonal line to start the scoring.

Soon after, Edoardo Todaro thought he had Northampton’s second, but it was pulled back before he touched the ball down for a subsequent knock-on.

Du Toit rolled over the line for Bath’s opening score, and Dunn made it 14-7 when Bath’s maul propelled him past Northampton’s head coach for head contact in a tackle.

McParland equalized for Saints when he slipped through a gap in the line to run over, but Todaro was denied a second try thanks to an excellent covering Sam Underhill tackle as he stuttered clear when Pollock intercepted.

Du Toit won the match 21-14, stretching over the posts in the final 45 minutes, but the hosts would never score again.

Rory Hutchinson believed he had only scored for the Saints because a second TMO check revealed he dropped the ball over the line before Freeman added their third, drifting between Ollie Lawrence and Joe Cokanasiga.

In a rare instance where Bath’s backs had the ball in hand, Henry Arundell sprinted towards Northampton’s line before scurrying over to get the bonus try from Pollock.

Northampton took advantage of their maul’s charge by adding his second with Pollock’s second after Bath’s Dan Frost was intentionally knocked into for a second time.

Johann van Graan, the head of rugby at Bath, stated to BBC Radio Bristol:

“Well done to Northampton, they were the better team that day.”

The biggest flaw is that you can’t defend penalties, which cost us field position, and that’s not good enough from us. You were put under a lot of pressure by a team like Northampton, who did a great job in the second half.

Sam Vesty, the head coach of the Northampton Saints, told BBC Radio Northampton:

“For 80 minutes, the mindset was to just keep attacking and just go at it,” the director said. Although it didn’t always go our way, we remained positive and succeeded in bringing out the best in us.

It’s a good idea to come and do it because we haven’t won here since 2022. I’m so proud of the boys who support themselves and have the willpower to succeed. I adored it.

The result [has to be] there because it’s a difficult place to come and win and for the boys to overcome the line and do it in such a manner.

Frost, Van Wyk, Griffin, Hill, Pepper, Carr-Smith, Carreras, and Harris are the replacements.

Sin bin: Frost (65)

Hendy, Todaro, Freeman, Graham, Pollock, Freeman, Ramm, Belleau, McParland, Iyogun, Smith, Davison, Prowse, Munga, Chick (c), Graham, and Pollock are Northampton’s artists.

Walker, Scola, Millar Mills, Benson, Brown, James, Lumley, and Sleightholme as replacements.

Sin bin: Prowse (12)