Tommy Freeman is aiming to create more memories in a Northampton Saints shirt this weekend as they head to south west France to take on Union Bordeaux Bègles.
Saints enter the next block of Investec Champions Cup fixtures top of Pool 4 after a perfect start to the competition in the opening rounds, including two bonus point wins away to Pau and at home to the Vodacom Bulls.
This weekend, it’s another European adventure for the men in Black, Green and Gold as they travel to Stade Chaban-Delmas on Sunday 11 January (kick-off: 3.15pm) for a repeat of last year’s Final.
“In terms of noise outside, we don’t take too much notice,” Freeman said. “People are going to perceive us for who we are going to be. At Leinster last season, they gave us that underdog status, and they’re probably going to do it again, but we’ve proved to people we can perform to a good level.
“We’re buzzing to get going this weekend. For the majority of the squad, it’s a place that we haven’t been to before and a big home crowd, we’ll definitely walk into the challenge.
“For us, in our preparation, it’s been all about what we can control in our circle. What happened in the final happened, it’s gone now, it’s behind us, and we're just focusing on this week.
“We’re focusing on the fact that it’s a new season and a new competition, and we’ll obviously take a lot of learnings from that final, but it’s about getting our game plan on the pitch.”
Saints enter Round 3 of the Champions Cup top of the Gallagher PREM table with significant momentum behind their recent performances, including a record victory over Harlequins in front of a sold-out cinch Stadium last weekend, as well as a victory over last year’s PREM champions Bath the weekend before.
“The win at Bath shows what depth we have in the team, the likes of young guys coming through like Edo, who you can rely on to pull something out of the hat and do something special,” said Freeman, who has nine tries in six Saints appearance so far this season.
“We feel like we can deliver the same performance, week in, week out, whoever wears the shirt and deliver the game plan.
“There’s no denying Bordeaux are a brilliant team who have individuals who can create something from nothing.
“But Phil [Dowson] talks a lot about going on adventures and creating memories, and we’ve done that in this competition before, but we want to do that again this weekend.
“It is always amazing to see the travelling Saints support, seeing familiar faces in Black, Green and Gold shirts is awesome, and we can’t wait to see them in full force this weekend.”