Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

England winger's pompous remark when asked about Sevu Reece

By PA
Sevu Reece of the New Zealand All Blacks makes a break during the International Test Match between New Zealand All Blacks and England at Eden Park on July 13, 2024 in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

Tommy Freeman intends making it a miserable afternoon for Sevu Reece when England face New Zealand at the Allianz Stadium on Saturday.

ADVERTISEMENT

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.

Video Spacer

Video Spacer

“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.

ADVERTISEMENT

“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.

ADVERTISEMENT

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

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

37 Comments
J
JK 22 days ago

He is gonna remember you anyway...the pastey white guy he ran over in the match

B
Bull Shark 22 days ago

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?

M
MP 24 days ago

Pompous? Ridiculous overreaction.

A
Alex 24 days ago

Pathetic!!! Seriously pathetic clickbait

T
Tom 24 days ago

Such pomposity! Scandalous.

N
Nickers 24 days ago

Disappointed by the lack of pomposity.

T
Timmyboy 24 days ago

I’m waiting for the pompous bit?

j
johnz 24 days ago

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.

T
Tom 24 days ago

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?

J
JW 25 days ago

Haha the English, so precious. Bloody Gallagher Prem games aren't even televised now.


I wonder if Freeman has even heard of Ollie Mathis!

M
MP 24 days ago

Oh yes. So easily manipulated by minor colonials.

A
Alex 24 days ago

What was precious??? I'm struggling to find the 'pompous' bit tbh

B
Bruiser 25 days ago

Can we have some articles for rugby people pls

J
Jen 25 days ago

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.

A
AD 23 days ago

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.

B
BM 25 days ago

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!😎

c
ch 25 days ago

Nothing pompous about that

J
JW 25 days ago

His reaction was a bit pompous. Maybe he'll be having nightmares of Reece after the weekend!

M
MakeOllieMathisAnAB 25 days ago

That’s what passes for pompous these days? England just don’t bring the pomposity like they used to.

J
JWH 25 days ago

Calling them poms doesn't even ring true anymore.

Load More Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

H
Hellhound 20 minutes ago
France put World Cup pain behind them with unbeaten run in November

France is starting to look like they are finally over their WC headache, although they were lucky that NZ had a very bad game. The Argies as usual is one game good, the next bad. If they can sort that out and be more consistent, they could become contenders for the WC.


NZ, Argentina (if they are more consistent), and now the Wallabies too is in an upward curve (can they be consistent?), as well as Fiji(as inconsistent as Argentina) looks like possible contenders. The Boks will be as usual a huge threat to defend their title. Things are looking up for the South, so the North should rightfully beware of the Southern Hemisphere threat.


With the French looking dangerous, the English with their close runs (mostly a mindset problem) and the Scottish seems to be the NH main contenders. The Irish is good, but not excellent anymore. They are more overbearing and with their glory days mostly gone with old players hanging on by a thread, by 2027 if they don't start adding in the younger players, they won't make it past yet another WC Quarter final. The problem is that their youngsters, while good is nothing special.


That is just 8 teams without the Irish that can become real WC contenders. Lots of hickups to be sorted still for these teams, excluding the Boks to become a threat. Make no mistake, the top Tier is much closer than people realise and the 2027 WC will be a really great WC, possibly the best contended WC ever.

1 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Despite defeat in Paris, the real reason the All Blacks are feeling upbeat Despite defeat in Paris, the real reason the All Blacks are feeling upbeat
Search