Saints boss Phil Dowson hails England star's ‘exceptional talent'

Northampton boss Phil Dowson praised the finishing instincts of hat-trick wing Tommy Freeman after Clermont were routed 46-24 at Franklin’s Gardens.

Saints set up an Investec Champions Cup home quarter-final against either Castres or Benetton next Saturday after running in seven tries against opponents who are in play-off contention in the Top 14.

Man of the match Freeman was at the heart of the victory as he extended his scoring streak to nine tries in the last seven games, including five for England, to further enhance his British and Irish selection claim.

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“Tommy’s an exceptional talent. He’s got a triple threat – he’s fast, athletic, big and has a kicking game. And an ego!” Dowson said.

“We’ve seen over the last couple of seasons what Tommy’s capable of and how he can break open a game. In one on one situations he’s outstanding.

“He has that desire and mindset to continually improve. He works hard. There’s a natural ability but also a desire to get better, which is fundamentally what the club thrives on.”

English champions Saints are struggling in eighth place in the Gallagher Premiership, leaving Europe as their only chance of making an impression on the season.

Now they face a very winnable quarter-final after profiting from the seeding earned by a strong group campaign.

“Frustration would be the word that we’ve used for our league form because there is zero doubt about the ability of this group,” Dowson said.

“It’s a cracking a group of lads. The ability is clear to see but the consistency hasn’t been there.

“The league rewards consistency, wins away from home and bonus points. We just haven’t been good enough to get those.

“But this win was brilliant. We worked really hard and executed a lot of our gameplan. It’s never perfect but we created so many opportunities and took most of them.”