Freeman hat-trick and Augustus double help Saints hammer Clermont

MATCH REPORT: In-form England wing Tommy Freeman scored three times as Northampton Saints hammered Clermont 46-24 on Friday to reach the Champions Cup quarterfinals.

Freeman, 24, made his contributions in a 37-minute spell having also crossed in every game of this year’s Six Nations and last week’s English Premiership loss at Sale.

South African No.8 Juarno Augustus with a double and Freeman’s international teammates in flyhalf Fin Smith and No.8 Henry Pollock were the Saints’ other try-scorers in a thrilling attacking display from the 2000 champions.

The French visitors were denied a first spot in the last eight since 2021 despite leading 10-0 after 13 minutes.

Two first-half yellow cards for lock Thomas Ceyte and Sebastien Bezy cost Les Jaunards dearly.

The three-time former runners up were also hampered by injury blows as they lost wing Bautista Delguy and iconic captain Fritz Lee to serious-looking problems.

The Saints will host the winners of Treviso’s trip to Castres, who face each other on Saturday, in next weekend’s quarters.

Saturday’s highlight though will be a Ronan O’Gara derby as the La Rochelle Director of Rugby welcomes former province Munster to western France.

More than 2,000 fans have travelled from Ireland from the game as O’Gara eyes a first win in all competitions since January.

On Sunday, six-time champions and holders Toulouse face Sale Sharks after top seeds from the pool stage Bordeaux-Begles host 1999’s winners Ulster.

The scorers:

For Northampton:
Tries: Smith, Freeman 3, Augustus 2, Pollock
Cons: Smith 4
Pen: Smith

For Clermont:
Tries: Moala, Raka, Fainga’a
Cons: Belleau 3
Pen: Belleau

Yellow cards: Thomas Ceyte (Clermont, 34′); Sebastien Bezy (Clermont, 41′)

Teams

Northampton Saints: 15 James Ramm, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Burger Odendaal, 12 Fraser Dingwall (captain), 11 George Hendy, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Juarno Augustus, 7 Henry Pollock, 6 Josh Kemeny, 5 Alex Coles, 4 Temo Mayanavanua, 3 Trevor Davison, 2 Curtis Langdon, 1 Emmanuel Iyogun.
Replacements: 16 Henry Walker, 17 Tom West, 18 Luke Green, 19 Tom Lockett, 20 Angus Scott-Young, 21 Tom Pearson, 22 Tom James, 23 Rory Hutchinson

Clermont: 15 Alex Newsome, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Irae Simone, 12 George Moala, 11 Alivereti Raka, 10 Anthony Belleau, 9 Sebastien Bezy, 8 Fritz Lee (captain), 7 Killian Tixeront, 6 Pita-Gus Sowakula, 5 Thomas Ceyte, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Cristian Ojovan, 2 Barnabe Massa, 1 Giorgi Akhaladze.
Replacements: 16 Folau Fainga’a, 17 Etienne Falgoux, 18 Michael Ala’alatoa, 19 Anthime Hemery, 20 Alexandre Fischer, 21 Jules Bousquet, 22 Ben Urdapilleta, 23 Pierre Fouyssac

Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Andrew Cole (Australia) Padraic Reidy (Ireland)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)