Tommy Freeman’s second hat-trick of the season propelled Northampton Saints to the top of the Gallagher PREM standings on Saturday night, as they produced their biggest winning margin ever at the Recreation Ground to defeat Bath Rugby 21-41.
The 24-year-old British & Irish Lion was at the heart of Saints’ attack as he opened the scoring after just three minutes, and while their hosts and defending league champions pulled ahead with two close-range efforts, scrum-half Archie McParland put Northampton back level with his breakaway score before the break.
Bath did pull ahead at the start of the second half but the final 30 minutes of the match were all Saints’, with Freeman wrapping up his man-of-the-match-winning hat-trick with two more well-worked scores bookending Henry Pollock’s brace.
“I’m lost for words,” said the centre after the breathless encounter at the Rec.
“We obviously had a lot of rotation, a lot of changes and I think lot of people may have written us off at the start of the week. But as a group we wanted to come down here and leave nothing out there, take every opportunity and get the ball moving and we did that.
“We’ve got a DNA and we stick to it, we go after that and then we put that onto the pitch.
“[Sam] Vesty says all the time that we’ve got the shape to play out of shape. We’ve got some very talented individuals; we’ve got speed there so when we get the ball in space to those guys, they can do some magic.
“But the pack effort was unbelievable too and that got us going forwards as well giving us some grit in defence. That DNA that we have, when we stick to that the performance comes.”
Saints had made ten changes to the side that defeated Sale Sharks 47-21 at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens before Christmas, a choice that many outside of Northampton’s camp questioned going into Round 8.
But Freeman insists that there was never any doubt from Saints’ group that this new-look squad couldn’t perform just as well.
He said: “With that change and rotation, it would have been very easy to go into our shells a bit and not take our opportunities. But my message to the team was that we had to take every chance that came and I think everyone understood that gameplan.
“We’ve got a clear understanding of where we want to go as a team and whatever team that puts on the shirt will deliver a performance with that same mindset.
“It was an awesome occasion and to see some of the younger lads get a chance, to see [Oliver] Scola make his league debut, it was pretty special. It really shows just what depth we have in the squad.”
The victory over Bath not only propels Saints to the top of the PREM standing ahead of Sunday’s matches but provided a fifth win away from home for Northampton so far this term, something they only achieved that many times across the whole of last season.
And Freeman knows that is a record Saints will need to extend if they are to keep challenging for play-off places as the season goes on.
“That’s where this competition is at, you’ve got to win some away games,” said Freeman.
“That home record and playing well at home is important but if you can do well away that gives you an edge.
“[Phil Dowson] mentions kicking the door in every time we travel and in Bath, we did that.”
There’s no rest for Northampton in the New Year, as they kick-off 2026 by hosting Harlequins at sold-out cinch Stadium (Saturday 3 January, kick-off: 5.30pm) to round out this block of PREM matches.
And then Saints head back into the Investec Champions Cup to face Union Bordeaux Bégles in a replay of last season’s final before Scarlets make their first trip to Northampton since 2017 on Sunday 18 January (kick-off: 3.15pm).
Of the challenge of the next month’s clashes, Freeman said: “Next week we’ll go hard again into Quins at home and then we’ve got Europe to get after, and what better way to do it than with the defending champions, Bordeaux.
“It’s exciting really, we’ve got a lot of the season still to go. I can’t wait for it.”