Finn Russell, Noah Caluori, Tommy Freeman: Prem talking points

Noah Caluori is constantly setting, reviewing, and, invariably, achieving goals.

The 19-year-old is confident in stating them publicly as well.

He explained last week that, by the end of this career, he wants to be one of the game’s all-time greats.

Medium term, he wants to be a regular England starter by next year’s Rugby World Cup.

And, more immediately, he wants to end this season in Prem Rugby’s top three try-scorers.

He can probably pencil in a tick in that last box already.

He sits clear at the top of the try-scoring pile with 12 – two more than Tommy Freeman and four more than Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, who are quite possibly England’s starting wings against Wales in a fortnight’s time.

Caluori’s five-try haul against Sale in October, on his first Prem start, demonstrated his helium-heeled leap.

His display against Newcastle showed there is plenty to his ground game as well.

For his second try, a delicious late swerve on to Elliot Daly’s long pass left Ethan Grayson flailing, before the afterburners did for Elliott Obatoyinbo.

The other three scores were all about acceleration, anticipation and finishing, rather than aerial ability.

Critics might question whether his tries only come in gluts against well-beaten teams. They would be wrong to. Caluori, who also crossed twice in December’s defeat by Exeter, was making only fifth Prem start of the season.

Amid a clutch of replacement cameos, he is scoring a try on average every 34 minutes.

His strike-rate is high, his strengths are multiple and his claims to an England spot are getting harder to dispute.

There were 48 players named in total in England’s Six Nations squad announcement on Friday – 36 players in the squad, five rehabilitating alongside them and another seven name-checked as being unavailable for selection because of injury.

Among all those options, Bristol were represented only once, with prop Ellis Genge making the cut.

There will be plenty at Ashton Gate who think the Pennyhill pack of Bears should be larger.

Since losing away to Bath at the end of October, Bristol have won eight out of nine matches in the Prem and Champions Cup. And that one defeat by Bordeaux-Begles could easily have gone the other way.

Their latest victory, amid teeming rain away to Exeter, came with an old-school single-digit scoreline – 8-5 – and plenty of grit.

Although Louis Rees-Zammit’s blind-side foray and long pass through sheets of rain to find Noah Heward for the only try showed razzle-dazzle isn’t confined to the firm pitches at either end of the season.

Expect the likes of Joe Batley, Gabriel Oghre and Joe Owen to feature in any England A action. Given England’s tight-head prop injury concerns George Kloska must have been under consideration for the Six Nations. Harry Randall will be thereabouts.

Centre Benhard Janse van Rensburg – who will be available to England from November – is surely destined for a senior squad spot given the time and expertise invested by the Rugby Football Union in clarifying the South Africa-born centre’s eligibility with World Rugby.

Perhaps Bristol fans won’t be fuming for too long then.

Their side travel to Leicester (six names in England’s announcement) on the other side of the Six Nations break in a match with big top-four ramifications.

Boss Pat Lam’s extra weeks with his men will do their cause no harm.

Law 18.2, sub-clause d, was the unlikely star of the weekend.

In the 78th minute of Northampton’s 43-29 away victory over Sale, Arron Reed attempted to swat back a box-kick, Saints’ England winger Freeman hacked the loose ball ahead and Henry Pollock gathered and galloped over for a Saints try.

The replay showed Freeman had one foot firmly in touch, while stretching the other back on to the field of play to boot the ball through for Pollock.

Instinctively, it looked wrong. He was in touch, he was in contact with the ball, the television match official would surely rule it out.

However, referee Anthony Woodthorpe was wiser.

The law book states: «The ball is not in touch if… a player, who is in touch, kicks or knocks the ball, but does not hold it, provided it has not reached the plane of touch.»

Freeman could not only kick the ball through with his other foot in touch, he could conceivably have reached infield it and batted it to a team-mate with his hand.

Every day is a school day.

Jack van Poortvliet has 21 England caps.

It could easily be more.

He was the first-choice nine heading into the last Rugby World Cup, only to suffer a serious ankle injury in a warm-up match against Wales, ruling him out and opening the door for Alex Mitchell.

More poorly timed set-backs have checked his progress. A shoulder injury kept him out of the most recent autumn internationals. A knee complaint deprived him of the early rounds of last year’s Six Nations.

Van Poortvliet, who made last week’s England squad as back-up to Mitchell and Ben Spencer, gave a reminder of his quality with a delicious chip-and-chase try in the 34-7 rout of Harlequins.

It was the highlight of a dashing performance, quick in thought and feet, which ended with him hobbling off 10 minutes from time.

Tigers coach Geoff Parling hoped it was only a dead leg

With Saracens’ Charlie Bracken, 22, and Quins’ Lucas Friday, 19, both emerging fast as England prospects, Van Poortvliet, and fellow 24-year-old Raffi Quirke – himself in try-scoring form at the weekend – both know they need to be in form and fitness if they don’t want to be part of a lost generation behind 28-year-old Mitchell and Spencer, 33.

Finn Russell shushing the Shed has become an annual tradition.

The Bath string-puller first asked for a little less noise from the Gloucester hardcore in November 2023 after landing a touchline kick in a come-from-behind 45-27 win.

In October 2024, after Bath had triumphed 55-31, he pulled the same gesture down the lens of a post-match camera.

And he didn’t miss the chance to do so once again in Friday night’s closely fought 30-26 victory at Kingsholm.

With Caluori marking one of his tries with a 45-degree torpedo dive and Pollock saluting nonplussed Sale fans on his way to the line, are score celebrations getting bolder?

Freeman’s sarcastic gesturing for a TMO review after seeing previous ‘tries’ chalked off in Northampton’s December win at Bath will still take some beating for this season.

Felipe Contepomi continuing his run straight off the pitch and into the stands to applaud his own score for Bristol against Northampton in 2002 remains the all-time gold standard though.