{"id":1163807,"date":"2026-08-22T23:06:34","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T23:06:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1163807\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T23:06:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T23:06:34","slug":"jeremy-guscott-weighs-into-henry-pollock-talk-as-big-claim-made","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1163807\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeremy Guscott weighs into Henry Pollock talk as big claim made"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jeremy Guscott has urged Steve Borthwick to start Henry Pollock after consigning him to the England<\/a> bench for the majority of the youngster\u2019s international career so far.<\/b><\/p>\n

The 21-year-old has enjoyed a meteoric rise, going from age-grade rugby to British and Irish Lion tourist inside 12 months.<\/p>\n

Pollock<\/a> has since established himself at Test level and is a regular in the Red Rose 23, but he is currently seen as an impact player.<\/p>\n

Only England start<\/p>\n

He has made just one start \u2013 against Ireland in the Six Nations \u2013 with the rest of his 13 caps coming as a replacement.<\/p>\n

However, considering his excellence when on the field, there have been plenty of calls for Borthwick<\/a> to give him more of a chance in the XV.<\/p>\n

Guscott is one of those with the England<\/a> legend telling the Telegraph: \u201cHe is awesome. Yes, I would start him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former centre also claimed that Pollock is \u201cone of the most gifted players we have ever seen as a seven, as a modern-day back-rower.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guscott is not much of a fan of his on-field antics, though, with the Northampton Saints loose forward proving a divisive figure with how he conducts himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe gestures are personally not for me but other people like it,\u201d he said. \u201cFor me, it does not show the greatest sportsmanship,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ranking seven England World Cup bolters to watch in the PREM including latest \u2018rising star\u2019 and \u2018next cab off the rank\u2019<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Pollock featured in all three Nations Championship fixtures in July as England responded to their defeat to the Springboks by overcoming Fiji and Argentina.<\/p>\n

There is a certain amount of discontent among fans, however, who believe that they should be doing far better with the talent available to Borthwick.<\/p>\n

Guscott appears to agree and wants to see the head coach be more adventurous.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think for England to properly succeed at the next World Cup, Borthwick needs to let Lee Blackett have more of an influence,\u201d he said.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve not seen the Blackett imprint yet, other than in the first half against Argentina and against France. If we don\u2019t see it soon then what\u2019s the point in having him there?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Staggering\u2019 omission<\/p>\n

Guscott is also surprised by some other selection calls with Borthwick\u2019s continued decision to omit Max Ojomoh especially bemusing for the former centre.<\/p>\n

\u201cA big decision for me is Max Ojomoh. He played that game for England, against Argentina last autumn, he was player of the match, and he has not had another minute since. I find that staggering,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe data only says what has happened \u2013 it categorically cannot predict the future. If someone is playing well, pick them.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Top 10 number eights in rugby: Springboks enforcer tops chart from All Blacks great and Ireland\u2019s returning talisman<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jeremy Guscott has urged Steve Borthwick to start Henry Pollock after consigning him to the England bench for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1163808,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5008],"tags":[748,393,4884,7614,225,90462,12,16,15],"class_list":["post-1163807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-england","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-henry-pollock","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117141673537094771","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1163807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1163807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1163807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1163808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1163807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1163807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1163807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}