Northampton 46-24 Clermont: Player Ratings as Tommy Freeman hat-trick marches Saints on to Champions Cup quarter-finals
Rugby NewsMonday, 07 April 2025 at 09:32
A Tommy Freeman hat-trick helped the English champions barrel over French side ASM Clermont. Northampton are back to their winning ways after a clunky restart after the.
Six Nations break.
Six Nations break.
Clermont were unfortunate on the night, with most of their front row going off injured forcing the scrums to become uncontested. Northampton will play Castres Olimpique at Franklins’ Gardens next weekend.
There was an early wake up call for the English champions as Clermont went over the whitewash inside two minutes, yet the TMO was a saving grace as the ball was knocked on. A long period of possession for the visitors with light at the end, as George Moala with an outstretched arm, scored the first try of the evening. Saints answered back with a try of their own, George Hendy and Juarno Augustus made space for Fin Smith who found a hole on the short side.
Bautista Delguy broke free, but was brought down by a brilliant tap-tackle by Alex Mitchell. One turnover and a Henry Pollock jackal later, Tommy Freeman goes over the paint. The England boys linked up again as Fraser Dingwall gave Freeman his brace on a plate. Clermont went down to 13 men after losing Thomas Ceyte and scrum-half Sebastien Bezy for constant infringements. The hosts made the numerical difference count as Juarno Augustus clambered his way through three yellow jerseys for a try. Smith added the extras on half time, for a 27-10 advantage.
Northampton continued their dominance in the second half, Augustus scored his brace after Hendy stepped Clermont’s defensive line. The visitors were not going down without a fight, as Alivereti Raka made something from nothing on halfway and substitute Folau Fainga'a then scored from a maul. Freeman continued his scoring streak after the winger scored in every Six Nations game, with a hat-trick in the round of 16.
The game quietened down for an extended period of time as Clermont captain Fritz Lee was stretched off. A disguised backdoor pass from Dingwall to Smith, then set up Henry Pollock with a lovely grubber kick for Saints’ seventh try of the evening, as East Midlands team powered into the quarter-finals.
Tries: 7 (Smith 19’, Freeman 24’, 29’, 61’, Augustus 42’,47’, Pollock 71’)
Conversions: 4 (Smith 20’, 42’, 47’, 72’)
Penalties: 1 (Smith 15’)
Yellow Cards: 0
Red Cards: 0
Starting XV: 15 James Ramm 14 Tommy Freeman 13 Burger Odendaal 12 Fraser Dingwall © 11 George Hendy 10 Fin Smith 9 Alex Mitchell 1 Emmanuel Iyogun 2 Curtis Langdon 3 Trevor Davison 4 Temo Mayanavanua 5 Alex Coles 6 Josh Kemeny 7 Henry Pollock 8 Juarno Augustus
REPLACEMENTS: 16 Henry Walker 17 Tom West 18 Luke Green 19 Tom Lockett 20 Angus Scott-Young 21 Tom Pearson 22 Tom James 23 Rory Hutchinson
Clermont Auvergne: 24
Tries: 3 (Moala 11’, Raka 49’, Fainga’a 55’)
Conversions: 3 (Belleau 12’, 50’, 56’)
Penalties: 1 (Belleau 4’)
Yellow Cards: 2 (Ceyte 34’, Bezy 41’)
Red Cards: 0
Starting XV: 15 Alex Newsome 14 Bautista Delguy 13 Irae Simone 12 George Moala 11 Alivereti Raka 10 Anthony Belleau 9 Sebastien Bezy 1 Giorgi Akhaladze 2 Barnabe Massa 3 Cristian Ojovan 4 Rob Simmons 5 Thomas Ceyte 6 Pita-Gus Sowakula 7 Killian Tixeront 8 Fritz Lee (c)
REPLACEMENTS: 16 Folau Fainga'a 17 Etienne Falgoux 18 Michael Ala'alatoa 19 Anthime Hemery 20 Alexandre Fischer 21 Jules Bousquet 22 Ben Urdapilleta 23 Pierre Fouyssac
PLAYER RATINGS
Northampton Saints
15. James Ramm 7 – Quiet evening at fullback making a few line breaks, ankle was heavily strapped up in the last 10 minutes.
14. Tommy Freeman 9 – Hat-trick for the winger, all over the pitch, strong physically in defence and of course in attack.
13. Burger Odendaal 8 – Northampton relishing their time with Odendaal back fit, providing the physicality the side needed at outside centre.
12. Fraser Dingwall © 8 - Strong performance from the centre, back to his original ways as the glue between the backs.
11. George Hendy 8 – unlucky not to score, quick feet once again, brilliant on the wing.
10. Fin Smith 8.5 – one try for the fly-half, decent of the tee, pulling the strings once again in black, gold and green.
9. Alex Mitchell 8.5 – One disallowed try and like his other half pulling the strings from 9, brilliant tap tackle to deny a certain try.
1. Emmanuel Iyogun 7.5 – Few handling errors but a strong scrummage in an extremely physical match-up.
2. Curtis Langdon 8 – always up for gameday, strong in the scrum.
3. Trevor Davison 7.5 – strong in the front row and physical at the breakdown.
4. Temo Mayanavanua 7.5 – same as his lock partner, strong at the breakdown.
5. Alex Coles 7.5 – few handling errors but overall, a strong performance from the lock.
6. Josh Kemeny 7 – came off early in the second period.
7. Henry Pollock 8.5 – Electric once again, over every ruck looking for a jackal opportunity and a try.
8. Juarno Augustus – Two tries for the South-African utilised well once again for the Saints, plenty of line breaks.
REPLACEMENTS
16. Henry Walker - 7
17. Tom West - 7
18. Luke Green - 7
19 Tom Lockett - 7
20. Angus Scott-Young - 7
21. Tom Pearson - 7
22. Tom James - 7
23. Rory Hutchinson - 7
Clermont Auvergne
15. Alex Newsome 6 – Struggled to make himself known.
14. Bautista Delguy 7.5 – Some great feet to break through and put his side on the attack, not much else.
13. Irae Simone 6 – Struggled to get into the game.
12. George Moala 7 – Try in the first half, not a lot more to say for the centre.
11. Alivereti Raka 6.5 – Made a try from nothing but poor defensively and quiet for long periods of the game.
10. Anthony Belleau 6.5 – Good from his tee with a 100% conversion rate.
9. Sebastien Bezy 6.5 – couldn’t get his team moving and a yellow card.
1. Giorgi Akhaladze 6 – Decent scrummage but struggled to make himself known.
2. Barnabe Massa 6 – Same as the props alongside him at scrum time but unable to impact the game.
3. Cristian Ojovan 6 – Unable to impact.
4. Rob Simmons 6 – Struggled to get into the game.
5. Thomas Ceyte 6 – Yellow card not much more to say.
6. Pita-Gus Sowakula 6 – Quiet game.
7. Killian Tixeront 6 – Unable to impact the game.
8. Fritz Lee (c) 6.5 – Strong first period unfortunately forced off due to injury.
REPLACEMENTS:
16. Folau Fainga'a 6
17. Etienne Falgoux 5
18. Michael Ala'alatoa 5
19. Anthime Hemery 5
20. Alexandre Fischer 5
21. Jules Bousquet 5
22. Ben Urdapilleta 5
23. Pierre Fouyssac 5
Post Match Talking points
Phil Dowson’s thoughts on his sides performance – “Brilliant, we talked last week about our energy and intent at Sale (Sharks) was excellent and we didn’t execute as much as we would have liked to and then tonight I believe we worked extremely hard and executed a lot more of out gameplan, never perfect but I think we created a lot of opportunities and took most of them.”
Northampton’s frustration – from coming up short in a European semi-final against Leinster, to winning the Premiership, to now being in 8th place in the league and top 4 hopes dwindling away, Dowson spoke on the “frustration” surrounding it. He said: “there is zero doubt around the ability of this group, with regards to injuries, selection there’s so much around it as well so it is a frustration, we just haven’t had the consistency.”
Dowson on Tommy Freeman – the English winger has been red hot in all competitions this season, scoring 15 tries as well as scoring in every Six Nations tie. Dowson said: “Tommy’s an exceptional talent and his ability both in the air and to beat people, a bit like Raka really, he’s got a triple threat he’s fast, athletic and big. We’ve seen, over the last couple of seasons what Tommy is capable of, you know, breaking up a game and in one-on-one situations.”
Fraser Dingwall hopes that his side has “repaid” back to Saints fans after their derby day display – “I’d hope that we’ve repaid a bit to them (the fans) I don’t think we’ll ever take that lightly around how that game went a couple of weeks ago so I would still say there’s a bit of constant making up to do but I hope that they can see that we went out there today and put a performance together that looked a lot more like us and hopefully we’re able to do the same next weekend.”
Tommy Freeman on his try-scoring form – “There’s phases and it’s the people inside you, like Dingers (Dingwall) chucked a seed and it was pretty easy for me but I think a lot of it is the work I do off the ball, if I can put myself in a position where I can see space creating then that’s what I’ll do, if a try comes off the back of it then happy days.”
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