Steve Borthwick has gained quite a reputation for route one rugby, earning him some rather unsavoury nicknames amid accusations of playing boring rugby. But if yesterday’s match and a certain Tommy Freeman bit of skill is anything to go by, then ‘boring’ simply isn’t in the player’s vocabulary.
For those who watched the game, you’ll be very familiar with the rather insane behind-the-back flick pulled off by the England winger in the latter stages of their game against Japan. Being given milliseconds to think about his action, Freeman scooped the ball with his right hand, before sending it behind his back and into the grateful hands of his Northampton Saints teammate, George Furbank.
Speaking to RugbyDump reporter Jack Tunney, Freeman claimed to have actually practiced his flicks in training (shhh…don’t tell Steve), saying:
“To be fair I’ve actually been doing it a lot in training. I actually was practicing it a little bit and weirdly the opportunity came.
“I’m just relieved it came off. We get the permission to do stuff and put ourselves out there so I’m lucky as a player.
“The way I was running, I was going quite fast so if I carried on that line I’d probably have gone into touch, so I thought that I could probably maybe try and offload a different way, so I just thought ‘yeah I’ll have a crack at it’, and yeah I think it paid off.
As part of an all-Northampton Saints back three, Freeman was keen to credit his teammates for their support, explaining: “To play on the international stage with your mates makes it a little bit easier. You know their cues and what they do, when and how they move, so luckily Furbs was there to catch it.”
🤏 That’s only a little bit special!! 🤥
🏴 @EnglandRugby winger Tommy Freeman with a touch of class to get George Furbank over the line!#AutumnNationsSeries | #ENGvJAP pic.twitter.com/tQJmhtNHD1
ADVERTISEMENT— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) November 24, 2024
It wasn’t just Freeman being questioned on the flick, in fact England captain Jamie George was quizzed following the match. Glancing sideways at his head coach, George smirked, turning to the press with a devilish look in his eye: “Naughty“, he said.
We can’t imagine Borthwick will have the team in for flicks and tricks training anytime soon but for the fans, and a certain reporter who almost threw his laptop off the Twickenham balcony in pure disgust at the revolting display of skill, it was a refreshing display of all that makes the game fun.
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