{"id":224701,"date":"2025-06-29T19:03:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-29T19:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/224701\/"},"modified":"2025-06-29T19:03:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-29T19:03:11","slug":"ive-probably-got-on-with-him-way-better-than-i-thought-i-would","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/224701\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I\u2019ve probably got on with him way better than I thought I would’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Joe McCarthy has struck up an unexpected friendship with Henry Pollock<\/a> as the British and Irish Lions<\/a> rookies step up their hunt for Test selection.<\/p>\n

The forwards delivered eye-catching performances in Saturday\u2019s 54-7 victory over Western Force<\/a> in Perth, seizing their chances three weeks out from the series opener against Australia.<\/p>\n

McCarthy finished man of the match after embellishing a mighty shift in defence with some impactful attacking moments, while Pollock made up for flashes of indiscipline with the dynamism only he can bring to the back row.<\/p>\n

Off the field, Ireland enforcer McCarthy has found himself forming an unlikely bromance with the swaggering England<\/a> flanker.<\/p>\n

\u201cHenry\u2019s actually a good fella. He\u2019s proper high-energy and he\u2019s been very sound,\u201d McCarthy said.<\/p>\n

Fixture<\/p>\n

British & Irish Lions<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Reds <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

British & Irish Lions <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cHe can be a bit much at times but he is himself and I\u2019ve probably got on with him way better than I thought I would. Like we saw against the Force, he\u2019s class to have in your team as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCarthy was part of the Leinster<\/a> side that were knocked out of the Champions Cup semi-finals by Pollock\u2019s Northampton, leading to some awkward initial moments when the rivals first entered Lions camp earlier this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got there and were thinking \u2018oh for f***\u2019s sake, it\u2019s these fellas again!\u2019,\u201d McCarthy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I\u2019ve played golf with Alex Mitchell<\/a> and me and Tommy Freeman<\/a> are doing \u2018thought for the day\u2019 on the bus, so it\u2019s interesting to hear Tommy\u2019s thoughts.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne I liked was \u2018today is the oldest you ever have been and the youngest you ever will be\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCarthy admits he felt under pressure to deliver against the Force as he became the first second row to put his hand up for selection alongside captain Maro Itoje<\/a> in the Lions engine room against the Wallabies on July 19.<\/p>\n

The display was reminiscent of his night against France<\/a> in last year\u2019s Six Nations<\/a> when he first served notice of his potential, but consistency has been elusive for the 24-year-old.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to put your finger on it, sometimes things just happen for you. But then you might prepare super well for a game and things don\u2019t happen for you,\u201d McCarthy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere it feels like a level up. During the week I was nervous and on edge about playing well but I\u2019m probably at my best when I feel like my back\u2019s against the wall a little bit.<\/p>\n

\u201cAndy Farrell wants us to be super physical, on the edge, but he also tells us \u2018don\u2019t be desperate, don\u2019t force things \u2013 earn the right to get off the line, make tackles and make turnovers\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joe McCarthy has struck up an unexpected friendship with Henry Pollock as the British and Irish Lions rookies…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-224701","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114768209855072468","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224701","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=224701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}