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Tommy Freeman was moved to full back for the trip to Northampton Bristol on Saturday, replacing James Pater, his fellow hat-trick scorer in last weekend’s 59-26 win against Newcastle, in the No.15 shirt.
Freeman, 25, made his debut for the Saints at fullback in September 2019 and played there frequently in his first two seasons as a professional. But the 15-year-old’s outings have been few and far between since establishing himself as a Test wing/outside centre, with his last appearance in a specialist role coming in Newcastle October last year.
With Freeman deployed at full-back, it allows DoR Phil Dowson to welcome Ollie Sleightholme’s return to the wing, one of two changes to his starting XV from the one that beat the Red Bulls. George Hendy keeps his place on the second wing.
Club captain Fraser Dingwall and Scotland’s Rory Hutchinson start in the centers for the second week running, while the unchanged partnership of Archie McParland and Finn Smith continues at scrum-half and fly-half in Bristol.
Northampton remain completely unchanged in the tight five, with loosehead prop Emmanuel Iyogun, hooker Curtis Langdon and solid prop Cleopas Kundion making up the front row, with locks Alex Coles and Ed Prowse behind them in the engine room.
Josh Taylor marks Saints’ second change to the starting XV as he makes his first PREM start alongside Josh Kemeny and Henry Pollock in the Northampton back row.
Saints name a standard 5-3 bench for the Ashton Gate clash, with Italians Danilo Fischetti and Ion Neculai and England internationals Callum Chick and Alex Mitchell among those set to get in on the action in Bristol.
Last term the Saints recorded a record win when the Bears visited Northampton, scoring an impressive 14 tries in a 94-33 win en route to securing a home play-off spot last term.
But the men in black, green and gold are winless at Ashton Gate in their last five outings there, with their last win on Bristol soil coming in 2021 – when Freeman’s side secured a 36-20 victory.
Bristol named an unchanged backline from last weekend’s win at Sale Sharks, but are forced to change props due to Ellis Genge’s wrist injury. PREM’s biggest player in the club, Jake Woolmore, replaces the England representative.
Club centurion Steven Luatua returns to the Bears back row.
Team Northampton v Bristol, kick-off 3.05pm, Ashton Gate, Saturday 3rd October:
15 Tommy Freeman
14 Ollie Sleightholme
13 Rory Hutchinson
12 Fraser Dingwall (c)
11 George Hendy
10 Finn Smith
9 Archie McParland
1 Emmanuel Iyogun
2 Curtis Langdon
3 Cleopas To see me
4 Alex Coles
5 Ed Prowse
6 Josh Kemeny
7 Josh Taylor
8 Henry Pollock
Replacements:
16 Robbie Smith
17 Danilo Fischetti
18 Ion Neculai
19 Tom Lockett
20 Callum Chick
21 Alex Mitchell
22 Anthony Belleau
23 James Pater
