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England will embrace the expectation surrounding their bid to end the wait for a Six Nations title, according to Tommy Freeman, who has vowed that Steve Borthwick’s side will “have a bit of swagger” during the Championship.
Accusations of English arrogance, particularly from their Six Nations rivals, are nothing new but the best England sides in the competition’s history have not wanted for self-belief and Freeman admits they intend to puff out their chests as they look to continue their 11-match winning streak.
Such confidence is reflective of the mood in the camp. Borthwick has already told us repeatedly how he expects opponents Wales to play this weekend and has challenged England to ensure they are in the hunt for the grand slam on Super Saturday – the final round of the championship on 14 March – when they face France in Paris, urging supporters to ‘flood across the Channel”.
Jamie George, who captains the side against Wales, has explained how he is fed up of finishing second. England are targeting a first title since 2020 and a first clean sweep in a decade while the Rugby Football Union has tasked Borthwick with winning international competitions “consistently” in its recently-released strategic plan.
Freeman is yet to taste silverware with England, having made his debut in 2022, but Borthwick’s side have the perfect opportunity to begin their campaign with a bang against a Wales side who have lost their last 11 Six Nations matches. England are not only expected to beat Wales but to thump their forlorn neighbours but Freeman does not see added expectation as a burden.
“There is an element of a bit of both, you listen to [the outside expectation] too much and you can coast along,” he said. “But we will be looking to keep doing what we are doing, keeping our heads down on the training field and letting the rest take care of itself. The more we can do that the better we can do that. Don’t get me wrong, we want to stick our chests out. We are hard to beat and you have seen that over the last year and we recognise that and we will have a bit of swagger about us.
“It is obviously a great feeling, being on the back of wins is a lot better than losses. I think there is an element of confidence but I don’t think there is any complacency, the lads are still learning and still wanting to get better. Every week is a different week and a different competition, the autumn was so different to the Six Nations in terms of the hype built through the competition, the teams out there, the styles of play and there are elements we can learn every time. That is what Steve really goes at. The place is unbelievable to be around, we are all good mates, the connections we are building. It has been the same faces over the last couple of years so it is a really good spot to be in.”
Freeman lines up at outside-centre against Wales, just as he did in Cardiff a year ago when England ran riot on the way to a 68-14 victory. It was the fourth victory in England’s winning run but the first in which they realised the outer reaches of their potential. Not long before that England had developed a habit of losing close contests in the final quarters of matches but as Freeman explained, a mindset shift, instigated by Borthwick and his assistant coaches, prompted the turnaround.
“That’s something Steve is always talking about, get used to lifting silverware,” he added. “We want to be winning as much as possible, and that’s the end game. Games look better than others and the performance can be different and not as good but at the end of the day, getting the win is the most important thing, that’s definitely forefront of the mind is we’re going to win and that’s what every competition is about and every team wants to do the same thing. If we can do that, that would be lovely and having a few caps now, you want to win as much as you can.
“There’s a difference in mindset, from, when you’re winning it’s to prevent them from winning rather than when we’re winning to keep winning. We probably did everything we can to not let them score whereas it’s let’s carry on doing everything we can to score more points and be in the right areas. I just think it’s a shifted mindset of playing for the full 80 and not being up and then trying to stop them, it’s how long you can keep the game on the pitch that you’re trying to do and impose.”
