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'They are not unbeatable, they are still human, they are still rugby players'
By PA
Tommy Freeman is eager to erase the distressing memory of his last appearance against South Africa at the Allianz Stadium when England face the world champions on Saturday.
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Two years ago Freeman became a victim of Eddie Jones’ brutal policy of replacing players early in matches if he felt they were underperforming, resulting in his substitution at half-time of the 27-13 defeat.
The Northampton wing, who was 21 at the time and making only his third Test appearance, was scapegoated for England’s aerial game malfunctioning, although he was never given an explanation by Jones for his removal.
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He followed in the footsteps of Luther Burrell, Teimana Harrison, Alex Lozowski and Danny Care, who had also been hauled off early.
It was Jones’ last game in charge as he was subsequently sacked and replaced by Steve Borthwick, but the substitution left its mark on Freeman, whose next cap did not come until this year’s Six Nations.
Now with the Springboks visiting Twickenham in the penultimate Test of the autumn, he is ready to make it a memorable occasion for the right reasons.
“It wasn’t ideal being pulled off at half-time, that wasn’t the best feeling in the world,” he said.
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“I got a tap on the shoulder at half-time – ‘you’re coming off’. We had a gameplan to try and get the ball back and I wasn’t delivering that.
“That was my first match at Twickenham because I had the two before in Australia. First one at Twickenham with your family and friends who didn’t manage to come out to Australia and they’re all sat there watching at Twickenham. It was difficult.
“No one wants it to go that way. You heard stories before of things like that happening and it’s something you never want to happen to you.
“This opportunity is one to put it right, that’s definitely in the back of my mind at the moment.”
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Freeman was not selected for the 2023 World Cup when England went down fighting against South Africa, losing a titanic semi-final 16-15.
The Springboks retained their world title, won this year’s Rugby Championship and have been restored to the summit of the global rankings following Sunday’s victory over Scotland.
But Freeman insists they should not be shown too much respect as England look to end a four-match losing run.
“The semi-final in the World Cup was a one-point game. South Africa were definitely blown back by the way the lads took it to them,” Freeman said.
“They are not unbeatable, they are still human, they are still rugby players, they are still playing the same game.
“We are going to deliver our game as best we can, make a few wrongs right from our game against Australia and go properly after them.
“We are not going in saying ‘we are expecting them to beat us, we will give it a shot’. That has never crossed our minds.
“We are going in to deliver our gameplan and if we deliver it well enough we know we can beat any team.
“We may be considered as underdogs but we’re going to take a big shot at them.”
Seriously though, the Boks didn’t look their best on Sunday. Things weren’t clicking.
The backline will be completely different - which in my mind poses some risk in that there could be another rusty performance.
However 14/15 of the forwards will play and would have needed last week to shake any cobwebs. So the platform for the backline should hopefully be better.
England have many times bounced back and produced the goods. Especially against the Boks and especially at Twickenham.
I don’t think this England side is capable of it - but they’re still a good side and the Boks won’t write them off!
I will though. Boks 10 - 44 points. I will drink a case of beer if I’m wrong.
I think Freeman can rest easy in his mind knowing that things have changed dramatically since Eddie Jones. He needn’t worry about the coaches pulling players at half time. And how that might affect the players psyche.
At half time everyone in the England team will be volunteering to be pulled.
“Take me off coach. Please God, TAKE ME OFF!”
He's right of course. These Boks are good but hardly great. Very, very, lucky to win the LOTTO Cup. A different ref on the day and SA dont make it out of the QterF - the deliberate knock on by Etzebeth, Carley would have binned him immed and awarded the Pen Try. The Kolbe chargedown was clearly illegal. ABs were also the better team in the Final, scoring the only try despite playing 55min with 14 men. ABs were also deserved winners at Ellis Park but robbed by the knockon try (7pts) by Bongi. England know Boks are there for the taking. The Scots would have gone close if passes had gone to hand. The Waterboy has been drunk on his own press too long, karma is loading.
I love the smell of sour grapes in the morning. It smells of desperation, disappointment and failure.
Lol.
Let me know when your boys win a world cup knockout game. Nearly 4 decades.
All these guys say the same thing and afterwards they eat humble pie.
I think the last two games were lost bc of Borthwick subbing or shuffling Smith from fly half. At the moment when England is chipping away at the deficit Borthwick twice scuttled the plan by hauling in Ford. If Smith was playing badly it would have been warranted, but in both games it did more harm than good - totally reversed all the gains and led to both defeats. There, it’s been said.