'If you think suddenly for one moment this is normal, give yourself a little slap of reality'
Toby Freeman is pinching himself. Rugby is about to get itself all caught up in the wonderful festival that will be Japan 2019, but the unheralded Harlequins second row is gearing up to claim quite an extraordinary personal achievement on the same weekend as the World Cup quarter-finals – a possible Premiership Rugby debut just eight days before his 32nd birthday.
If patience is a virtue, Freeman is its patron saint having spent his entire career until now slogging it out on the Championship circuit. So established a veteran is he of the Discover England second tier that he started out at Exeter at a time when the Chiefs were operating in the shadows with the clubs he went on to represent, Rotherham, Nottingham and Cornish Pirates.
It would be quiet fitting then if Freeman gets the nod from Paul Gustard to run out for Quins when they open their Premiership season on October 19 at Sandy Park. “Yeah, it’s mad,” he said to RugbyPass. “The league starts at all places Exeter away where my professional career began.
“I’d very much like to be involved in that game, just to get back down there and play a bit of rugby. It’s just mad. I’m looking at the fixtures list and I can’t wait for the season to get going… I confess to being a bit of a rugby nause. I would have happily sat down and watched Premiership Rugby and enjoyed it over the years. You would look at it and see how things are done differently.
“I know it sounds a very rugby nause thing to say but it’s true, you have got to look at the best to learn how to be the best. You have got to take as much as you can from the rugby that you watch, learn how to be at that level. Hopefully, I can go and compete with these boys here.”
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Harlequins is taking quite a bit of getting used to as everything is so brand new. Even their home ground at the Stoop was somewhere Freeman had never visited before until a few weeks ago. The wonder of finding himself in very different surroundings to what he was accustomed to doesn’t sound like it will wear off any time soon.
“I have never played there,” he confirmed. “I had my first visit there a few weeks ago. I was absolutely buzzing and it was empty. I was saying to the lads that I can’t wait to play when this place is full because this place is buzzing and there is no-one in it right now, so imagine what it is like when it is bouncing on a Friday night.
“I’m boring the lads here, especially the first couple of weeks the number of times I go, ‘Lads, the facilities you have here are incredible, the food is incredible’, just going on and on and on about how great everything is.
? FIXTURES DAY ?
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??https://t.co/ynz3TWGHGC pic.twitter.com/HaG3FBnLWp— Premiership Rugby (@premrugby) July 10, 2019
“A few other lads appreciated seeing someone come in and saying, ‘Look what you have got here is world-class’ and it is. If you think suddenly for one moment this is normal, give yourself a little slap of reality. It isn’t normal.
“This is a very privileged club to be a part of and I’m well aware of the opportunity I have been given. I’m working hard every day to make sure I’m becoming the best player I can be. Even at 31 I’m loving learning new stuff, I’m loving getting fitter and stronger.
“It’s a great club to be a part of… I won’t talk about breaking fitness or breaking gym records. I’m in a place where I’m competing with the lads here and I don’t feel like I’m out of place coming from a Championship side.
? Paul Gustard, @Toby__Freeman, @RachaelBurf12 and @Refinitiv CEO David Craig at our partnership launch event at Canary Wharf today.#COYQ pic.twitter.com/9KAtPFWbNv
— Harlequins ? (@Harlequins) September 4, 2019
“Training with these boys I certainly feel I’m holding my own. Now I have got my foot in this door I don’t intend to walk out for a wee while. I have been given the opportunity for one year and I’d like to think I can get my hands on a shirt and prove a point.”
The irony about it all is that Freeman – whose broken thumb shortly before the summer switch left his wife doing much of heavy lifting as they packed up the van for their new life in a village near Guildford – was in the frame of mind to knock rugby on the head completely before his big break came.
After so many years plugging away in the wilderness, he became resigned to never getting the opportunity he craved and he was all set to call it quits only for his game to suddenly prosper for a very poignant family reason. That improvement led to the offer of a lifetime finally materialising.
? "I've wanted this for so long. Now it's here I am really enjoying it."
? @Toby__Freeman is desperate to prove himself in a Harlequins shirt.
? Watch Close Quarters – https://t.co/gtwCy08TCt #COYQ pic.twitter.com/sc70bPz6oW
— Harlequins ? (@Harlequins) September 9, 2019
“You would get phone calls from you agent around the classic February, March, April time saying such and such is interested, but interest unfortunately never turned into ‘here’s a contract’,” he said, explaining how he regularly had his dream dashed in the past.
“Especially when I was younger you would think, ‘Oh, this club is interested’. You would get carried away and get your hopes up but nothing would ever come through. That is why last year I was just enjoying playing rugby for the first time in many years. There was no pressure, it was the last year of my contract. I just needed to go out and enjoy playing my rugby, play how I felt.
“I thought towards the latter stages that was it. I’d put my best foot forward and was fortunate to put a string of good performances together playing for Cornish Pirates, but I said to my wife, ‘Look, if this isn’t enough for me to get noticed then this isn’t for me’.
? NEW SIGNING | Second row Toby Freeman will join the Club from Cornish Pirates ahead of the 2019/20 season #COYQ
— Harlequins ? (@Harlequins) March 21, 2019
“I also told a few people funny things come along when you least expect it and then a phone call comes in, the offer came through and I couldn’t take it quick enough,” he added, going on to explain exactly why his rugby so suddenly broke free of the shackles.
“The weight came off my shoulders. I was unlucky to lose my mum at the start of last season and I went in and spoke to the coaches after I strung a few decent games together and they were like, ‘Where has this suddenly come from? You didn’t play like this last year’.
“I went, ‘No’. At the end of the day, I had seen arguably one of the worst things you can see, watching your mother die. I went, ‘Right, what is the worst thing that can happen if I make a mistake on the rugby pitch?’
“It’s not saying I have got a disregard for what I’m doing on the pitch and I don’t respect what my team-mates are trying to do, but I think once you get to a moment in your rugby career where you can play without fear it’s a great feeling. That is what I had last year for the first time in my career.
“I was, ‘Right, mistakes happen but go and do something better after it’. It was a great way to approach that year and it led to me putting together a string of decent performances. That is how I ended up catching the eye of the Harlequins coaching staff.”
It was March when a deal was announced, Freeman’s contract being the fruition of Gustard taking a genuine shine to the standards the lock was setting on the second tier circuit with Pirates. “He said there is a work ethic in me that he was very impressed with.
“I’d been playing Championship rugby for the best part of 10 years, grinding away, and sometimes people overlook Championship, but it is certainly not an easy league. You build up a level of resilience playing Championship for that amount of time. I can’t speak for Paul, but he certainly said to me he had seen something in me that I can bring to Harlequins as a player.
“Going forward this year I don’t know how I will be viewed by the players in the Premiership, I don’t know what will be expected of me by the coaches of other teams but on the flip side of that, let them think what they want to think.
“I’m here because the coaches have put their faith in me and I’d like to think that when I put on the shirt I will give them justification for why they put their faith into me and brought me here.
??? Fantastic to have @GordonRamsay at the training ground today!
?Look forward to welcoming you down to The Stoop this season! #COYQ pic.twitter.com/NC1dgbrEBN
— Harlequins ? (@Harlequins) July 31, 2019
“I have not achieved anything by just signing for Harlequins, I want to make sure I have an impact on the field and I want to make sure I get my hands on the shirt and make sure I’m playing rugby here.”
If Freeman succeeds he will become another example of the Premiership benefiting from the talent that earns its stripes in a lower league which doesn’t get the same level of respect that the Pro D2 competition in France receives from its Top 14 big brother.
Freeman can’t understand the prevailing attitude in England. “It’s hard really to explain why it doesn’t get the respect it deserves some times. I would say to anyone that questions the level of rugby that is being played, go and watch a game, go and watch the lads training on a weekly basis because lads are at the grind, they are going into work and are grinding away every day to try and get the opportunity.
?? The boys were given a welcome break from pre-season training down at Liquid Leisure yesterday!
? Who had the best moves on the water? #COYQ pic.twitter.com/j5jAqAtbLS
— Harlequins ? (@Harlequins) July 26, 2019
“You ask every player in the Championship, ‘Do you want to play Premiership?’ 99.9 per cent of them would say yes. It’s just case of the interest needs to grow. It’s not for me to say how that needs to be done.
“There are appropriate people in the appropriate jobs to make that happen and it’s not for me to comment too much, but I do feel the Championship needs to be given the respect it deserves with the level of players who come out of it and end up playing in Premiership and international rugby.
“There is not a lot of glamour involved when you play Championship rugby. If you just want to have the title of a professional rugby player and be happy with that then so be it. But it certainly wasn’t the reason why I was playing Championship rugby.
‘I’ll be like any England fan – I’ll want England to win. I gave three years of my life to that and I worked my balls off’
– @Harlequins Paul Gustard tells @alexshawsport why he will be cheering on @EnglandRugby when @rugbyworldcup startshttps://t.co/qZRf1pNsoT— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 20, 2019
“I was very honest with the lads I played with, I wanted to play in the Premiership and I would grab it with both hands if my opportunity came along. On the flip side, no one forces anyone to play Championship rugby, no one is saying, ‘You must do this’.
“If it’s not for you then don’t do it to be brutally honest. If you’re not happy doing it go and do something else. But if you’re willing to do the grind, keep your head down, get the work done and coaches will look at you. I can testify to that. If you go and get your work done someone will look at you.”
WATCH: The RugbyPass Foden: Stateside documentary lifts the lid on why former England full-back Ben Foden left the Premiership for Major League Rugby in New York
Comments on RugbyPass
The Hurricanes are good, especially with a decent coach now. However, let’s be real, the Crusaders and Chiefs are clearly a good degree weaker without the players they’ve lost overseas now. The Canes lost one player. It’s also why the aussie teams ‘seem’ to be stronger.
9 Go to commentsOr you could develop your own players instead of constantly taking from the SH competition and weakening it in the process? With all the player and financial resources these unions have compared to SH countries you’d think they could manage that, or is weakening the SH comps and their national sides an added bonus? Probably.
3 Go to commentsNot so fast Aaron, we might need you in black yet lol. God knows he’d be a lot less nerve-racking than hot and (very) cold players like Perofeta. It’s really a shame Reuben Love isn’t playing 10, we’ve got enough 15 options.
4 Go to commentsAnd those from the NH still seem to be puzzled (and delighted) why NZ’s depth isn’t what it once was. Over 600 NZ players overseas, that’s insane. This sort of deal is why Super Rugby coaches have admitted they struggle now to find enough quality to fill out their squads.
6 Go to commentsArticle intéressant ! La question devrait régulièrement se poser pour les jeunes français originaires de Nouvelle-Calédonie, Wallis-et-Futuna et de Polynésie entre la Nouvelle-Zélande et la Métropole… Difficile pour la fédération française de rugby de se positionner : soit le choix est fait de dénicher les jeunes talents et de les faire venir très tôt en Métropole, au risque de les déraciner, soit on prend le risque de se les faire “piller” par les All Blacks qui, telle une araignée, essaye de récupérer tous les talents des îles du Pacifique… À la France de se défendre en développant l’aura du XV de France et des clubs français dans ses collectivités d’Outre-mer !
2 Go to commentsWrong bay. He needs to come to the REAL BAY which is Bay Of Plenty and have a crack at making the Chiefs.
2 Go to commentsIs Barrett going play full back??? They already have all the centers…
15 Go to commentsForgive my ignorance, I might not fully understand so would appreciate clarification: Didn’t the Bulls have to fly with three different carriers, paid for by the South African Rugby Union, whilst Edinburgh got a chartered flight sponsored by EPCR? Also, as far as I understand it South African teams don’t yet share in the revenue from the competition and are not allowed to host Semi-finals or Finals at home. Surely if everyone wants South Africans to “take the competition seriously” then they must make South Africans feel welcome, allow them to share in the revenue, and give them the same levels of access as the teams from the other countries. Just a reminder that South Africa has a large and passionate Rugby audience. Just by virtue of our teams being a part of these competitions means that more of us are likely to watch the knockout games, even if our teams haven’t qualified. It would be silly to alienate such a large audience by making them feel unwelcome.
18 Go to commentsFirst of all. This guy is very much behind the curve. All the bleating, whingeing, whining and moaning took place days ago already. Not adding anything to the topic other than more bleating, whingeing, whining and moaning. 🍼 Second of all, not one mention of the fact that South African teams can’t get home semi finals or finals. The tournament was undermined and devalued by the administrators. 🤡 Thirdly, football teams often have to juggle selections in mid week games, premier games, champions league games etc. and will from time to time prioritize certain titles over others. 🐒 And lastly FEK Neil, and anyone else for that matter, for insisting on telling teams how to manage themselves. If they make what is largely a business decision that suits them and doesn’t suit you - tough shite. 💩 It’s not rocket science as to why the Bulls did what they did. If this guy is too slow to figure it out (and is deliberately not mentioning one of the key reasons why) then he isn’t a journalist. He should join the rest of us pundit plebs in comments section. 🥴
18 Go to commentsSo the first door to knock on Rob is Parliament followed by HMRC. The Irish Revenue deliver a 40% tax relief rebate on the HIGHEST EARNING TEN YEARS of every pro Irish rugby players contract earnings at retirement. That goes a long way to both retaining their best talent and freeing up wages for marquee players. Who knows, if that had been in place in the UK, you might not have been able to poach Hoggy and Jonny Gray from Glasgow…!!!
3 Go to comments1. True, if that “free” ticket means access to all but the prized exhibit - EVIP only. SA cannot host semis, even if they’ve earned it (see Sharks vs ASM Clermont Auvergne at… Twickenham Stoop). 2. Why no selective outrage over Lyon doing the exact same thing a week earlier? Out of all the countries France send the most “B teams”, why nobody talking about “disrespect” and “prioritising domestic leagues” and “kicking them out”? 3. Why no mention of the Sharks fielding all of their Springboks for the second rate Challenge cup QF? No commitment? 4. Why no mention of all the SA teams qualifying for respective euro knock out comps in the two seasons they’ve been in it? How many euro teams have qualified for KO’s in their history? Can’t compete? 5. Why no mention of SA teams beating French and English giants La Rochelle and Saracens? How many euro teams have done that in their history? Add no quality? The fact is that SA teams are only in their second season in europe, with no status and a fraction of the resources. Since joining the URC, SA has seen a repatriation of a number of players, and this will only grow once SA start sharing in the profits of competing in these comps, meaning bigger squads with greater depth and quality, meaning they don’t have to prioritise comps as they have to now - they don’t have imports from Pacifica and South America and everywhere else in between like “European” teams have - also less “Saffas” in Prem and T14, that’s what we want right? 'If the South Africans are in, they need to be all in' True, and we have to ensure we give them the same status and resources as we give everyone else to do just that. A small compromise on scheduling will go a long way in avoiding these situations, but guess what, France and England wont compromise on scheduling because they ironically… prioritise their domestic comps, go figure!
18 Go to commentsthe success of the premiership can be summarized by : only 10 teams. It makes a huge difference with the overcrowded top 14 (let us not talk about Leinster and URC…)
1 Go to commentsGood for him. The ABs were fooling around again with converted fullbacks that had a penetration of a marshmallow. Laumape or as Aki has shown for Ireland, go forward is important in the centres. If it had been DMac - Aki- Aumua - Ioane- Telea- Jordan in France the final result would have been different.
4 Go to commentsDan Carter a apporté son professionnalisme, des méthodes de travail, un esprit qui manquaient à l’USAP. Son influence, même une fois blessé a été énorme. Et pour citer une anecdote, certains soirs il venait de lui-même à l’entraînement des jeunes pour dispenser ses conseils. On ne peut pas compter ce qu’il a apporté au club en heures de jeu sur le terrain. Est-ce que le club en a eu pour son argent ? Avec la publicité sur son nom et le titre, je suppose que oui.
1 Go to commentsThe SA sides are suffering from a bum rap here. There isn’t a side anywhere in the world that would do things differently in their shoes. They’ve been set up to fail in the EPCR comps by vested interests, with last minute intercontinental travel requirements that costs an arm and a leg to book in advance just on the possibility they might be required. And the total nonsense that denies any chance of home venues is entirely biased and absolutely unsporting. Either EPCR, the Top14 & the Gallagher Premiership get it sorted on a fair and equitable sporting basis for ALL participants or expect the ridicule to continue. Right now, these comps are a joke!
18 Go to commentsSA sides should do the right thing and leave the champions cup, they are lowering the standard with completely one sided games, not up to the right level. The greatest club tournament in the world is being banjaxed by the weak SA sides.
18 Go to commentsCouldnt agree more. SA sides need to show more committment and really have a go at the Champions Cup. Its quite possibly the most prestigious title in Europe and SA sides need to respect that prestige and serve up their best. EPCR needs to do more to ensure that sides from South Africa and sides travelling to and from SA have a better chance in this competition. The Bulls were put in a really difficult position of having to travel there and back in one week. One could argue that this is what the SA sides signed up for and that La Rochelle didnt complain or send out weakened sides despite having to travel to SA and back and play on successive weekends but surely the situation is also unfair on La Rochelle as well and so EPCR needs to think about successive gameweeks and the travel effect of the competition
18 Go to commentsI hadn’t watched much Canes this season but sat through a replay of that Chiefs game with no distractions. That pack is beastly. I really like the look of Iose. He loves the tough stuff. The first Quins clip may be the best I have even seen for a TH driving his opposite into oblivion. i need to take your word for the contribution of Walker, but Collier there with a straight back pushing up from under was a lovely thing to see. Have you fallen in love with Baxter also, Nick? I think Stuart Barnes may have written his column about him recently, naked. He positively frothed.
15 Go to commentsSmart guy. I wish he was running the RFU or something!
3 Go to commentsWhy Barrett, when Leinster already have at least 4 top centres.?
15 Go to comments