The issue of the welfare of top England players has been raised again, with star wing Tommy Freeman telling The i Paper he suffered mental “overload” after this year’s Six Nations and “dreaded coming in” to his club, Northampton Saints.
Freeman, who has exceeded the recommended limit of 30 matches in each of the past two seasons, is set to be his usual high-quality self in Northampton’s Premiership semi-final against Leicester Tigers on Friday evening.
With 16 Prem tries this season, seven caps for England to take him onto 27, and a British & Irish Lions tour in which he started all three Tests last summer, he already has much to be proud of. He is also one of four nominees as Premiership player of the season, to be awarded on Wednesday evening.
But those facts and stats also point to a workload that counterproductively wore the 25-year-old down.
And while Freeman says he has no problem with “the environment” of either his club or his country, his frank and honest comments will reignite the debate over whether rugby’s best-known players need more rest and recuperation.
