Four Northampton Saints players have been selected in British and Irish Lions squad selections for this year’s tour to Australia.
Fresh from playing key roles in helping deliver an Investec Champions Cup semi-final win away against Leinster, Tommy Freeman, Alex Mitchell, Fin Smith and Henry Pollock were all included in head coach Andy Farrell’s touring party heading Down Under for the three-test series.
A quartet of picks is Saints best contribution since 1997, when Tim Rodber, Matt Dawson, Paul Grayson, Gregor Townsend and Nick Beal were all picked for the trip to South Africa.
Before flying out to Australia, first The Lions take on Argentina in Dublin at the Aviva Stadium on 20 June. The first match on Australian soil is against Western Force at Optus Stadium in Perth on 28 June.
The first Test against the Wallabies is in Brisbane on 19 July, followed by the second Test on 26 July in Melbourne before the concluding match of the series in Sydney on 2 August.
Tommy Freeman – Saint #2015
The 24-year-old winger/centre is closing in on two huge Saints milestones. He is just three games away from his 100th in Black, Green and Gold having made his debut as a teenager back September 2019, and one more try will take him to 60 for the club – taking him to 300 points.
Freeman’s recent form for club and country has been nothing short of remarkable. A run of scoring tries in ten consecutive games is book-ended by scores at the Aviva Stadium, starting with his effort for England against Ireland and his treble against Leinster last time out.
The 2024/25 season is his most prolific at Saints to date, finding the line on 16 occasions, having also bagged a hat-trick against Clermont Auvergne.
Freeman’s first of 20 England caps came in England’s 25-17 victory over Australia – the venue for first Test against the Wallabies on 19 July.
Alex Mitchell – Saint #1979
The oldest and most experienced of Saints’ 2025 Lions tourist, which is some going for a 27-year-old. The scrum-half is six appearances away from his 150th for the Club, a journey that started with game one way back in September 2017.
Mitchell has a strike rate of better than a try every three games having crossed the line 52 times for the men in Black, Green and Gold. His try-scoring knack followed him into the senior international fold where he struck on debut for England against Tonga in the 2021/22 season at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.
Despite missing out on initial selection for the 2023 Rugby World Cup, Mitchell established himself as his country’s starting fly-half on five of their six games in France, and has also started in all-but-one of England’s last ten Guinness Six Nations games and now has 23 Test caps.
Unforgettably, it was Mitchell who crossed the line for the winning try in the Gallagher Premiership final victory in June 2024 – now he will be looking to follow in Matt Dawson’s footsteps and bring his own flair and style as a scrum-half to the famous red shirt.
Fin Smith – Saint #2062
While he made his Saints’ debut as a 20-year-old against Bristol Bears in October 2022, the fly-half is the only one of Saints’ Lions call-ups who did not come through the club’s academy, having arrived from Worcester Warriors – where he became their youngest ever Premiership starter against Bath in March 2021, aged just 18 years and 313 days.
Smith’s first full season at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens would end with a Gallagher Premiership winners’ medal, as he landed 260 points across 27 appearances in all competitions.
The 1997 series to Australia was settled by a dropgoal and that is a weapon firmly in Smith’s armoury having landed one in the driving rain at Thomond Park to help defeat Munster in January 2024 before repeating the trick in the Premiership final later that year.
The 23-year-old’s England debut came from the bench in England’s win away in Italy in February 2024, but his breakthrough came in this year’s six Nations as he started all four of England’s wins kicking 29 points along the way.
Henry Pollock – Saint #2066
This time last year, the 20-year-old back row had one Premiership appearance to his name as a replacement. Fast forward 12 months, he is a World Rugby U20 Championship winner, a scorer of seven Investec Champions Cup tries, including one in the semi-final against Leinster, and is contention to win the 2025 Investec Player of the Year following his nomination.
His eye for the line, tackle count and breakdown burgling ability also caught the eye of international selectors and his Test debut came from the bench against Wales in Cardiff in March. Pollock lived up to the occasion, by grabbing two tries in England’s big win.
Northampton Saints’ British & Irish Lions
- Blair Swannell (1899 & 1904)*
- Robin Harrison (1910)*
- Freddie Blakiston (1924)*
- Eric Coley (1927)*
- Billy Weston (1936)*
- Jeff Butterfield (1955, 1959)*
- Dickie Jeeps (1955, 1959, 1962)*
- Frank Sykes (1955)
- David Powell (1966)
- Keith Savage (1966)*
- Bob Taylor (1968)*
- Peter Larter (1968)*
- Bryan West (1968)
- Ian Hunter (1993)
- Martin Bayfield (1993)*
- Nick Beal (1997)
- Gregor Townsend (1997)*
- Paul Grayson (1997)
- Matt Dawson (1997, 2001)*
- Tim Rodber (1997)*
- Ben Cohen (2001)
- Steve Thompson (2005)*
- Ewan Murray (2009)
- Courtney Lawes (2017, 2021)*
- George North (2017)
- Dan Biggar (2021)*
* Denotes those capped by the Lions in a Test match.
