Alex Waller needed extensive treatment on the field after sustaining a nasty head injury which left him laid out. Fortunately, the experienced prop was able to rise to his feet but was led off.
Warriors flanker Scott Cummings was sent to the sin-bin for his part in Waller’s injury, and the home side found themselves down to 14 men.
Further Saints pressure added to the punishment and resulted in Freeman producing a powerful finish for his second. He twisted his way over having taken a hit from the home defence and dropped down to claim the try.
They almost gifted Cancelliere a second try when they threw another pass directly to the Glasgow man. This time Mitchell had the speed to recover and avoid more embarrassment. His diving tackle stopped the wing in his track and Huw Jones’ attempted kick through bounced over the dead-ball line.
Smith increased the advantage with two second-half kicks as Saints continued to control proceedings. Warriors showed some late fighting spirit and reduced the lead with wing Ollie Smith diving over for a try after chasing his own kick through on the left.
They were awarded a penalty try two minutes from time when Saints collapsed a driving maul and lost replacement prop Tarek Haffar to the sin-bin, But it was too little too late for the hosts.
Saints ended their ten game losing streak in Europe and Player of the match Freeman enthused: “It’s easy to enjoy your rugby when the team is winning and i’m able to make an impact on things. Scoring tries is an important part of my game but not everything. Though it was nice to get a couple tonight.
“I’m still learning and trying to improve my game. I am getting more of the ball and it’s enabling me to make an impact. This is a tough place to come, the crowd were rocking and loud so we knew we had to put on a special performance.
“It was the strong start in Europe we needed because we’ve had a bad time in the competition of late. We now need to back it up next week.”
Director of Rugby Phil Dowson insisted: “We missed out on getting the bonus point but the win was the big thing. Now we have Toulon’s megastars coming to Franklin’s next and that will be another huge night next Friday.”