OFF THE RECORD WITH TOMMY FREEMAN

Published: 14/11/2025, By: Alex Courbat

Tommy Freeman’s journey to the top of English rugby hasn’t exactly followed the usual script – but that’s part of what makes his rise so interesting. Now a regular in the England lineup, it’s hard to imagine him doing anything else. And yet, rugby wasn’t always on the cards for Tommy. To understand how he got started, we caught up with him to talk sports, and how a few twists and turns helped shape one of the most exciting young players in the game today.

Tommy Freeman didn’t grow up dreaming of playing rugby for England. In fact, rugby wasn’t even on his radar when he was a kid. Like a lot of kids in the UK, it was all about football – playing with mates at school, watching Liverpool every weekend. That was his world… until life took a bit of a detour. Literally.

When he moved to Culford School in Suffolk, things changed. “They didn’t do football at the time,” Tommy says. Instead, the school’s sports schedule was rugby in the winter, hockey after Christmas, and cricket in the summer. For a lad who’d only ever really played football, it could’ve been a tough switch. But his parents gave him one simple bit of advice: go in with an open mind and throw yourself into everything. So, that’s what he did.

And surprisingly, rugby just clicked. “I loved the space, the ability to distribute the ball to other people,” he says, smiling. But rugby wasn’t the only sport that grabbed his attention – far from it. He was into hockey, tennis, swimming – and he was good at all of them, especially hockey. Eventually, though, around the age of 14 or 15, he had to pick. The juggling act of trials for different sports just wasn’t sustainable. “You can’t be going here for a hockey trial, there for rugby, and driving all over,” he explains. So, he made a choice that would define the rest of his life: rugby. It felt like the sport with a clearer path forward. That, and he jokes, “Mum and Dad probably preferred watching rugby over hockey anyway.”

But even after choosing rugby, the journey wasn’t straightforward. At 16, after three years in the Leicester Tigers academy, he was released. A blow that would have crushed most young players – but not Tommy. He took it on the chin and stayed on his feet. “Physically, I was way behind. Everyone was hitting puberty, growing, bulking up – I was just small,” he says. “I knew I could play, I had the skills, but the size and strength just weren’t there yet.” It was frustrating, but he knew his time would come.

Eventually, the growth spurt arrived – along with speed and power. That’s when the Northampton Saints came calling, and things finally started to fall into place. But just as he was getting going, life tackled him to the ground.

During his first year at Saints, after impressing in preseason, Tommy had his first full tonic-clonic seizure. It didn’t come out of nowhere, though. Back when he was 13, doctors had noticed what they called “vacant episodes” – moments where he’d just zone out mid-conversation. It was a mild form of epilepsy, and they thought he’d grow out of it. And for a while, he had. But this seizure changed everything.

“It was tough, yeah,” he says. “But in a weird way, it was a blessing it happened in front of my parents and not when I was on my own.” It meant his condition could be properly diagnosed and managed. “If it hadn’t happened, I’d probably still be walking around with epilepsy and not know it.”

Once the epilepsy was under control, his body threw one more curveball. After joining Saints at 83kg, he had to put on a lot of size quickly to keep up with the physical demands of pro rugby. But his knees couldn’t keep up. He developed tendinitis in both patella tendons, and eventually, it got so bad that surgery was the only option. “It was pretty bleak,” he admits. But Tommy being Tommy, he found a silver lining: most of the recovery happened over the summer, so he only missed four weeks of the season. If there’s one thing that stands out about Tommy, it’s his mindset. He has this way of turning setbacks into fuel.

Take the 2023 World Cup – he didn’t get picked, and honestly, he thinks that was probably fair. Looking back at his first few games for England, he admits he didn’t really show what he was capable of. “I kind of just expected things to happen.” But instead of getting down about it, he used it as motivation. “The next year, I just thought, ‘Screw it – let your hair down. You’ve got nothing to lose.’” So he went all in, stopped playing it safe – and well, the rest is history.

That mindset came to life in one unforgettable moment against Japan – the iconic backpass. If you saw it, you remember it. Tommy, right up against the touchline, flicked a blind pass behind his back, perfectly into the hands of a teammate. It looked ridiculous, like something straight out of a video game. “It was just a feel thing,” he says, laughing. “I knew I wasn’t scoring. I knew I was going into touch. So I gave it a go.” If it didn’t come off? Who cares – it did, and those are the moments he lives for.

For young athletes wondering if rugby’s right for them, Tommy has some simple advice: play everything. “All the skills transfer. Catching a high ball in cricket? That helps in rugby. Playing tennis or hockey? It’s all balance, footwork, coordination.” His own journey – through football, hockey, cricket, swimming, and rugby – helped shape him into the all-round athlete he is now.

But more than the sport, it’s the attitude that matters. “Work on your weaknesses,” he says. “The stuff you’re already good at will take care of itself. Build your all-round game. And when you get your moment – back yourself. Go for it. You’ll regret not trying way more than you’ll regret it not coming off.”

Tommy’s journey has had its bumps – injuries, rejection, health challenges – but he’s never let any of it stop him. Instead, he’s kept moving, kept growing, and most of all, kept believing himself. So, whether you’re 13 and picking up a rugby ball for the first time, or 30 and wondering if you should try a new sport like padel, his message is the same: You’ve got nothing to lose. Let your hair down. See what happens.

All that matters is to get started and if it’s not your thing, just try something else.