{"id":129881,"date":"2025-05-25T05:37:20","date_gmt":"2025-05-25T05:37:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/129881\/"},"modified":"2025-05-25T05:37:20","modified_gmt":"2025-05-25T05:37:20","slug":"irish-legend-on-henry-pollock-being-a-guy-who-irritates-everybody-planet-rugby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/129881\/","title":{"rendered":"Irish legend on Henry Pollock being \u2018a guy who irritates everybody\u2019 : Planet Rugby"},"content":{"rendered":"

Legendary hooker Keith Wood has claimed that \u201cpain in the arse\u201d Henry Pollock can provide a crucial spark for the British and Irish Lions on their upcoming tour.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 20-year-old Test rookie only made his try-scoring England debut in March off the bench against Wales. He then backed up that eye-catching breakthrough with excellent club form for Northampton.<\/p>\n

As a result, he\u00a0was chosen by Andy Farrell for the Lions\u2019 Australian trip, just days after he left favourites Leinster chasing shadows in Dublin in the Investec Champions Cup semi-final.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t shut up, that\u2019s fine!\u201d<\/p>\n

Ahead of Saturday\u2019s final for the Saints in Cardiff versus Bordeaux, retired Ireland skipper Wood has explained why he believes Pollock is a box office player whose enthusiasm for the game is something that should be celebrated rather than criticised.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Genting Casino<\/a>, two-time Lions tourist Wood said: \u201cI have seen comments that he [Pollock<\/a>] should not have been picked, that he has issues with certain parts of his game, which he absolutely does. But he is box office.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is an enthusiasm in his game that is lacking in a lot of other people\u2019s games. We need that spark \u2013 and it is great to see a young guy get that opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u2018Not everyone\u2019s going to like you\u2019 \u2013 Henry Pollock\u2019s blunt reaction to fans\u2019 differing opinions of him<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cHe winds people up the wrong way, but the best thing about it is that you are going to have a guy who irritates everybody, his own teammates, if you believe what you hear, but they love what he does on the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis [the Lions<\/a> tour] is his baptism, but he will learn more on the tour than he has up to this period of time. He doesn\u2019t shut up. That\u2019s fine. I would like the other guys to learn a little bit of his enthusiasm. That would be no harm.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a joy in that young man that is kind of great to see on the field. Irritating to play against, but a joy nonetheless. He should soak up everything like a sponge.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Wood continued: \u201cSuddenly you are going to have four countries cheering for him now. That could be confusing for some players. He is a guy you would like to dislike for some of them, but every time I have watched him play, a couple of times in the under-20s, he stands out.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a pain in the arse in the best possible way, but he backs it up. It is not a case of empty words. You know what I like about him? He puts his head on the block every time he opens his mouth, but then he backs it up afterwards. That\u2019s great.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, I\u2019m not comparing him to Martin Johnson. I used to describe Martin as the greatest pain in the arse to play against and one of the greatest joys to have on your own team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI disliked having to play against him for England because he was a bloody great player, awkward, hard angles and elbows. He was an unbelievable pain in the arse but I tell you what, you would have followed him anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE<\/strong>:\u00a0Champions Cup final teams: England stars return for Northampton but Springboks hopeful misses out while Damian Penaud starts for Bordeaux<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Legendary hooker Keith Wood has claimed that \u201cpain in the arse\u201d Henry Pollock can provide a crucial spark…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129882,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[5313,2383,393,7614,225,57287,57288,12,10327,4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-129881","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-british-and-irish-lions","9":"tag-champions-cup","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-henry-pollock","12":"tag-home-page","13":"tag-keith-wood","14":"tag-martin-johnson","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-northampton-saints","17":"tag-rugby","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114566861337693744","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129881","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=129881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}