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https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/news\/england-u20-boss-brutally-honest-message-of-next-gen-after-henry-pollocks-rise\/ <\/p>\nmens<\/p>\n
world-rugby-u20-championship<\/p>\n
Henry Pollock of British & Irish Lions during the Lions 1888 Cup match between the British & Irish Lions and Argentina at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. (Photo By Ramsey Cardy\/Sportsfile via Getty Images) https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/news\/england-u20-boss-brutally-honest-message-of-next-gen-after-henry-pollocks-rise\/ <\/p>\n
England U20 head coach Mark Mapletoft has described British and Irish Lions<\/a> flanker Henry Pollock<\/a> as a role model for the next generation of players coming through, but has warned any aspiring flankers of the competition they face with England\u2019s burgeoning crop of young back-rows.<\/p>\n This time last year, the Northampton<\/a> Saints and England<\/a> flanker was preparing for England\u2019s World Rugby U20 Championship<\/a> campaign, which they came home victors.\u00a0 Just 12 months on, the 20-year-old has already made an appearance for the Lions against Argentina<\/a> ahead of a tour in which he is tipped to make the Test team.<\/p>\n While this meteoric rise over the past year \u2013 where the flanker started the Six Nations<\/a> playing for the U20s and finished it scoring two tries for Steve Borthwick\u2019s side \u2013 has been well documented, Mapletoft has seen almost every step of his journey into Andy Farrell\u2019s squad.<\/p>\n After recently naming his England squad that will defend their world crown<\/a> in Italy<\/a> over the coming month, Mapletoft reflected on the rise a handful of his prot\u00e9g\u00e9s have made over the past few seasons to make senior appearances, saying that is the primary objective of age-grade rugby.<\/p>\n Fixture<\/p>\n World Rugby U20 Championship<\/p>\n England U20 <\/p>\n Scotland U20 <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI remember listening to the under-18s \u2013 they were actually running an under-17s camp \u2013 and literally three years ago to the day, Henry was in that space. There\u2019s a picture of him down at Dings Crusaders<\/a> after we played a game and you fast forward three years and this guy\u2019s picked for the Lions,\u201d said Mapletoft, whose England side begin their title defence against Scotland<\/a> U20 on Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cTo have someone actually selected on merit from the under-20s to play in the actual Six Nations for the seniors, I don\u2019t think has happened before. I think we\u2019ve had lads go on this Argentina tour, but I don\u2019t think anyone\u2019s played on merit in the Six Nations. It\u2019s a great achievement, he\u2019s a terrific bloke and an unbelievable player and also an inspiration.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s risen to every challenge this year. It\u2019s an unbelievable achievement to be picked on merit for England in the Six Nations, but to then go on and actually be selected for the Lions while still being under 20 is, for me, what the programme is about. It\u2019s seeing Henry, it\u2019s seeing Asher [Opoku-Fordjour], it\u2019s seeing Chandler [Cunningham-South], those guys going up and getting capped and hopefully more and more can do so over the next three to five years.\u201d<\/p>\n Pollock provides plenty of inspiration to those competing in Italy that their progress to the highest echelons of the game needn\u2019t necessarily be a protracted process.<\/p>\n While his exploits on the pitch have helped Pollock climb the ranks for club and country this season, it is his brash attitude that has helped him quickly establish himself as one of European rugby\u2019s most notorious personalities at such a young age. This, Mapletoft believes, also gives inspiration to the \u2018TikTok generation\u2019 below the current crop of U20 stars.<\/p>\n Whether it\u2019s his try-scoring celebrations, his pumped-up sideline antics<\/a> or his confrontational style, almost every match he has played in during his blossoming career to date has been marked by a moment where the rookie has stolen the limelight. Aided by social media, Pollock\u2019s former coach feels he has quickly established himself as a role model and an inspiration for the generation below him, as they have \u201cthe opportunity to connect and see what people are doing and how much fun they\u2019re having doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n Mapletoft was also quick to add that, alongside the incumbent England back-rows, the latest group to break into the set-up only shows how tough it will be for any aspiring teenagers, saying they will need to be \u201csuper, super good.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTo have role models in that space is inspirational for the next generation of players,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we\u2019re being brutally honest, the next openside flanker coming through, who might be 14 or 15 now, and he looks and he sees the Currys at 27, Ben Earl<\/a> at 27, Henry at 20, Guy Pepper<\/a> at 22, they\u2019re going to be super good, super, super good, better than good to even get into that space. Because by the time they get to 22, those other players are going to be in the physical prime of their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/10008000.png.webp\"\/)
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