8 hours ago
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In the aftermath of England’s victory over Australia, Henry Pollock sat patiently in the Twickenham concourse waiting for George Ford to finish speaking to the media.
He perched on top of a dustbin - which broke under his weight – scrolling through his phone that was red hot with messages and notifications about his second-half blitz.
Players have often been warned against looking on social media but nobody buys into the Pollock hype more than himself.
‘You can have a little look here and there,’ explained the 20-year-old, whose name is on everyone’s lips in English rugby. ‘It’s more about seeing family photos. My brother’s abroad in Hong Kong right now so I’ve been messaging him, seeing if he was awake for the game or still in bed. I’d told him, “Second half, buddy! Set your alarm for that!”’
Pollock has a swagger that has been beaten out of England players in previous generations. It should be nurtured, moving the dial in a team that has often played within itself. He referred to Ben Earl as ‘Riggsy’ for his impressive physique and explained how his bright peroxide hair was inspired by his favourite Premier League player.
‘I saw (Alejandro) Garnacho was dying his hair ages ago, so I thought, yeah, f*** it, why not?’ he said. ‘Just thought it would be different.’
Henry Pollock helped to inspire England to victory against Australia after coming off the bench
Pollock scored one of England's three second half tries as they won 25-7 at Twickenham
Throughout the match, Pollock and the rest of England’s heavyweight bench were being drip fed information about how to capitalise on Ford and Alex Mitchell’s contestable kicks.
Winger Tom Roebuck, who recently broke his speed record by running at 10.1 metres per second, was charged with rising high to tap the ball back, leaving scraps for the likes of Pollock, Earl and Sam Underhill to pick up.
The plan worked to perfection.
‘Steve Borthwick sat all of us down and said, “Look, you're going to be on the bench, but we want to bring a massive impact”. At the start of the week it's disappointing you're not starting, but you switch straight away,’ Pollock said.
‘We talked all week about where you are on that pitch when that kick goes up and lucky enough I was in the right place. We definitely tried to get the ball in the air as much as possible and kind of circle around that. That last quarter of the game is where teams die off and we were just happy that we can come and make an impact.’
England’s victory stemmed from their dominance under the aerial game and the set-piece. It booked their eighth win in a row, putting them in a strong position to be a top seed for December’s World Cup draw.
There is little doubt about the strength in depth of England’s back-five forwards. The challenge now is for their attacking game to come to life. Borthwick described some of the strike play as ‘sticky’, struggling to convert line breaks into tries. The head coach faces a stick-or-twist decision on his midfield pairing, which remains the most uncertain combination in the starting XV.
Tommy Freeman did not always look like a natural distributor in the No 13 jersey, yet England are stacked with back-three options and Borthwick faces the dilemma of how to squeeze them all into the team.
Pollock revealed his bright peroxide hair was inspired by Chelsea star Alejandro Garnacho
It was a promising start to the Autumn internationals for England head coach Steve Borthwick
‘If you put Tommy in at 13 and you add another strike runner on the wing, it's brilliant,’ said fly-half George Ford. ‘It felt much like 9, 10, 12, so Mitch, myself and Fraser Dingwall were the decision makers of the team and getting everyone set.
‘Then from 13 out, Freemo, Manny Feyi-Waboso, Tom Roebuck and Freddie Steward, we've got some real power runners and strike runners. Our job is to try and give them the ball to allow them to do that and we saw it a couple of times today. But we need to do it more.’
As he continues his return to full fitness, Ollie Lawrence seems like the obvious candidate to start in the centres. England are also holding out for Bristol’s Benhard Janse van Rensburg, who will be available next summer if World Rugby sign off his eligibility switch from South Africa.
Next weekend could also be the match when No8 Ben Earl is deployed in the midfield. ‘That's certainly something I've considered for this coming week,’ revealed Borthwick.
‘Fiji pose a different challenge, and our defence is going to be tested. Australia attack a bit closer to the ruck, so it becomes a big challenge for your tight forwards. You're going to make lots of tackles in the tight forwards. Fiji is much wider. Your outside backs are going to have to move, complete one-on-one tackles against big, fast players, and they'll leave back-row forwards out there. That's the challenge this week.’
It is a challenge that Pollock and Co should be ready for.
