{"id":268367,"date":"2025-07-17T04:14:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T04:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/268367\/"},"modified":"2025-07-17T04:14:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T04:14:16","slug":"rugby-needs-stars-lets-not-cut-henry-pollock-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/268367\/","title":{"rendered":"Rugby needs stars \u2014 let\u2019s not cut Henry Pollock down"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steve Borthwick has staunchly defended Henry Pollock after his young England star received a backlash in Australia for declaring that a 3-0 series whitewash for the British & Irish Lions was \u201cdefinitely on the table\u201d.<\/p>\n

Pollock\u2019s bold claim led the Lions to be branded \u201ccocky\u201d by former Wallaby Chris Latham, with the World Cup winner adding: \u201cFor me, and I\u2019m sure for every Aussie, it\u2019s like, \u2018OK, righto, we\u2019ll shut you up.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Borthwick, the England head coach who is in Washington preparing his side to face the United States at Audi Field on Saturday, said: \u201cThis guy is going to be a star and I want this game to have stars.<\/p>\n

\"British<\/p>\n

Pollock has rubbed Australia up the wrong way with a prediction of a Lions series whitewash<\/p>\n

SPORTSFILE<\/p>\n

\u201cRugby is in a battle for attention and support with so many competing sports. We need superstars in the game and Henry is going to be one. Unfortunately, in Britain we\u2019re very good at cutting people down. We talk about tall poppy syndrome, well what rugby needs is taller poppies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI happen to think you can be a superstar and a team player. I don\u2019t think the two are mutually exclusive. Henry is exciting people, getting them jumping up and down. That\u2019s what we all want to see. I see my two sons out with a rugby ball, practising goalkicking. One of them is pretending to be George Ford, the other Fin Smith, or even [All Black] Damian McKenzie. They see superstars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Borthwick, 45, has just seen his England team sweep a series in Argentina<\/a> despite 14 of his best players being absent with the Lions. He is on a six-match winning run, a feat England last managed in 2020. The memory of 2024, the seven losses and fierce criticism, feels a lifetime away.<\/p>\n

\"Argentina<\/p>\n

England have won six matches on the spin, including an impressive 2-0 series win in Argentina<\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got incredible talent, we\u2019ve learnt how to win and I now want to develop the belief that we will win,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Borthwick has been round the block enough times not to think he has cracked it but he is intent on taking enjoyment where he can, reasoning that if he does not, then how can he expect those that play for and work alongside him to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want the players to go on the pitch excited,\u201d he said, after handing debuts to Joe Carpenter, Max Ojomoh and Arthur Clark, a first start to Guy Pepper and bench spots for rookies Gabriel Oghre, Charlie Atkinson and Oscar Beard. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso returns on the wing having served a two-match ban for a high tackle in the pre-tour game against France A.<\/p>\n

\"Immanuel<\/p>\n

Feyi-Waboso, right, is set to play after serving a two-match ban<\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

\u201cI want them to put on an England shirt and not be weighed down by it, rather be excited by the millions of people willing them to do well. There were things from my time playing for England which I wish would have been different. All I can do now is help these guys have the best experience. <\/p>\n

\u201cPlaying for England is demanding. We are here, ultimately, to win games and I understand that as supporters you expect linear progress. And pretty quick linear progress. But I want the players and their families, the management team and coaching staff, to enjoy it. I want it to be the time of their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rewind to January of this year and the fun aspect was hard to find. England had lost six in a row to Tier One opposition, beating only Japan between March and December. When Borthwick took the captaincy off Jamie George and gave it to Maro Itoje, George considered calling it a day.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you make decisions like that, clearly there\u2019s the human factor and while one is elated the other is not,\u201d Borthwick said. \u201cBut I always try to do what I feel is right for the team. To be clear, I have enormous respect for Jamie and, having watched the way he\u2019s moving now and how fit he is, see no reason he won\u2019t be playing well for England at the World Cup in two years\u2019 time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Borthwick also revealed that one of his sons wrote a letter to Anthony Watson after the wing was forced to retire through injury and received a signed pair of boots in reply, which told him that the culture in English rugby is healthy and that his job, despite the scrutiny, is well worth getting out of bed for.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this role there\u2019s always going to be outside noise because people love the game, love this team and what England is trying to do. The level of interest is awesome and we should be grateful for that. It\u2019s about staying consistent and being clear on what we need to do to get better. If we, as a management team, play a small part in helping players achieve their dreams, that makes us very happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

United States v England<\/p>\n

Saturday, kick-off 10.05pm
TV<\/b> Rugby Pass TV<\/p>\n

England<\/b> squad<\/b><\/p>\n

J Carpenter<\/b> (Sale)
I Feyi-Waboso<\/b> (Exeter)
L Northmore<\/b> (Harlequins)
M Ojomoh<\/b> (Bath), C Murle<\/b>y (Harlequins)
G Ford<\/b> (Sale), J van Poortvliet<\/b> (Leicester)
B Rodd<\/b> (Sale), C Langdon<\/b> (Northampton)
A Opoku-Fordjour<\/b> (Sale)
A Coles<\/b> (Northampton)
A Clark <\/b>(Gloucester)
C Cunningham-South<\/b> (Harlequins)
G Pepper<\/b> (Bath)
A Dombrandt<\/b> (Harlequins)<\/p>\n

Replacements<\/b>: G Oghre <\/b>(Bristol), F Baxter <\/b>(Harlequins), T Davison<\/b> (Northampton), T Hill <\/b>(Bath), B Curry<\/b> (Sale), H Randall <\/b>(Bristol), C Atkinson<\/b> (Gloucester) O Beard<\/b> (Harlequins).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steve Borthwick has staunchly defended Henry Pollock after his young England star received a backlash in Australia for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268368,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-268367","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\/114866635828630957","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268367","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=268367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}