England winger's pompous remark when asked about Sevu Reece
Tommy Freeman intends making it a miserable afternoon for Sevu Reece when England face New Zealand at the Allianz Stadium on Saturday.
All Blacks star Reece caused a stir when the rivals clashed over two Tests in July by stating that he knew little about Freeman or his fellow England wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso.
By the end of the series Reece was only too aware of the electric finishers after Feyi-Waboso touched down in both matches and Freeman crossed in the second game.
“Not fussed if they do or don’t know me to be honest. The more you play, the more you’ll get known,” Freeman said.
“Hopefully if I can make his game a misery, it’s a win for me and that will make him remember me.”
England lost both Tests but they were hard-fought battles which could have gone their way had they shown a little more composure at crucial moments.
Head coach Steve Borthwick has challenged his players to start turning narrow defeats into memorable wins having fallen just short against New Zealand twice, France and South Africa since the start of the 2023 World Cup.
“They were a tough two games to narrowly miss out on,” Northampton’s 11-cap wing Freeman said.
“We felt like the last game could have gone either way decision-wise. To miss out like that is always difficult.
“We’ll definitely want to put a few wrongs right and really get stuck into them on our home ground.”
England have not beaten New Zealand at Twickenham since their Manu Tuilagi-inspired victory in 2012, subsequently losing narrowly three times and drawing their most recent clash at the venue in 2022.
Freeman still recalls the 38-21 win under Stuart Lancaster even though he was only 11 at the time.
“I was boarding at school and I remember watching it – Manu was on one. Everything worked that day for England with their strikes,” he said.
“Manu was breaking the line a lot and hopefully we can see the same from Ollie Lawrence on Saturday.
“We want the crowd to be rocking. They are always up for England against New Zealand. It will be exciting.”
Borthwick is scheduled to announce his team on Thursday but that could be brought forward to Tuesday afternoon if there are no outstanding injury concerns.
Ollie Chessum has been ruled out of the New Zealand showdown and most likely the entire autumn because of a knee problem, offering the scope to reunite hard-tackling flankers Tom Curry and Sam Underhill in the back row.
Apart from how Borthwick chooses to configure his props between starters and finishers, he also faces a tough call at scrum-half where Ben Spencer, Harry Randall and Jack van Poortvliet are competing for the jersey.
Henry Slade proved his fitness on his comeback from shoulder surgery for Exeter against Harlequins on Sunday and he is competing with Alex Lozowski for selection at outside centre.
Louis Rees-Zammit joins Jim Hamilton for the latest episode of Walk the Talk to discuss his move to the NFL. Watch now on RugbyPass TV
He is gonna remember you anyway...the pastey white guy he ran over in the match
I had to look up pompous in the dictionary just to be sure. But can’t we just call him arrogant? Why the special treatment?
Pompous? Ridiculous overreaction.
Pathetic!!! Seriously pathetic clickbait
Such pomposity! Scandalous.
Disappointed by the lack of pomposity.
I’m waiting for the pompous bit?
Always a struggle for news during test week build up, at least before the teams are named so then at least we have something to talk about.
On another note, there's not even a guarantee that Reece will make the field. He seems more of a place holder to me, hasn't done much wrong but hardly sets the world alight. Talea looked strong on attack last week, despite a few defensive issues. Perhaps he'll get the nod?
It was interesting to see Love debuting on the wing. Perhaps Razor has him lined up to eventually take over from Reece. The ABs do seem to like a converted fullback in the 14 jersey. It's every good ABs coach right of passage.
Reece is a decent player but as an Englishman I'd be happy to see him selected. ABs have a lot better wingers, I'm not sure why Reece is in the mix?
Haha the English, so precious. Bloody Gallagher Prem games aren't even televised now.
I wonder if Freeman has even heard of Ollie Mathis!
Oh yes. So easily manipulated by minor colonials.
What was precious??? I'm struggling to find the 'pompous' bit tbh
Can we have some articles for rugby people pls
Okay, so I read it all and I am still waiting to be struck by the pomposity. Maybe it's a cultural thing and kiwis are not as sensitive to the pompous as the Poms are.
The pomposity is probably the wrong word. It's maybe a tiny bit of arrogance saying if he can make Reeves game a misery etc. Good fighting talk, but probably he should be winning games against the ABs first before saying things like it.
Let them dream that the back three are all midgets Jen! hehehe. But the truth is 2024 3-0 SWEEP to AB's after Twicker's ENGLAND FORTRESS 👻😇 doesn't help them!😎
Nothing pompous about that
His reaction was a bit pompous. Maybe he'll be having nightmares of Reece after the weekend!
That’s what passes for pompous these days? England just don’t bring the pomposity like they used to.
Calling them poms doesn't even ring true anymore.