{"id":751322,"date":"2026-06-21T18:22:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T18:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/751322\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T18:22:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T18:22:11","slug":"henry-pollock-keep-talking-all-you-want-but-well-keep-winning-trophies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/751322\/","title":{"rendered":"Henry Pollock: ‘Keep talking all you want, but we’ll keep winning trophies’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Henry Pollock has some rather vocal critics, not that it bothers him much.<\/p>\n

Not long ago, the Northampton star was a mere academy prodigy. When Saints last ventured to Twickenham in search of PREM Rugby glory, he was in the stands watching, having made a small handful of first-team appearances. Now, though, he is very much the poster boy of English rugby.<\/p>\n

\u2018People can talk all they want\u2019<\/p>\n

But with that comes criticism. And he certainly gets his fair share of that.<\/p>\n

The focus often goes onto his antics away from the nuts and bolts of rugby; try celebrations, a recent partnership with Eddie Hearn\u2019s Matchroom agency, or even just posting TikTok\u2019s with England teammates, he often finds himself in the social media firing line. But it doesn\u2019t bother him at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople can talk all they want,\u201d said Pollock<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always said throughout my career, I don\u2019t listen to the outside noise, I don\u2019t listen to people\u2019s opinions. I\u2019m very much locked in on my role in my team.<\/p>\n

Northampton player ratings: Henry Pollock haters humbled as \u2018ferocious\u2019 star delivers \u2018trademark\u2019 performance and bench provides \u2018bulletproof\u2019 defence<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe can have all these opinions about me, but I\u2019m just trying to focus on what I do.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, it\u2019s white noise; it doesn\u2019t matter to me. It doesn\u2019t go into my brain.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can keep talking all you want, but we\u2019ll keep winning trophies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018You want to be the person who steps up\u2019<\/p>\n

As he says, he\u2019ll just keep winning trophies. He\u2019s earning them, too, with Pollock arguably in career-best form right now.<\/p>\n

The back-rower was named Man of the Match in Saints\u2019 PREM Rugby<\/a> final win over Exeter Chiefs yesterday (Saturday, 20 June), becoming the youngest player ever to win the Peter Deakin Medal in the process, which also followed some outright blockbusters against Leicester Tigers, Gloucester and Bristol Bears on the road to the title as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to be the person who steps up in these big games, put your hand up, go forward and push the team with you. I\u2019m very fortunate that I was able to do that today, and I had a great team around me.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis team is all about freedom, allowing you to play with freedom and play what\u2019s in front of you. I\u2019m just loving my time here and enjoying every moment.<\/p>\n

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been at the club for three years. Every single day, there\u2019s a strive to get better and fulfil your full potential. That\u2019s so key in an environment where you want to get better each day and have players pushing you (to get better) around you.\u201d<\/p>\n

His form in recent weeks has also coincided with a shift to number eight, starting both the semi-final victory and the subsequent win at Twickenham in that spot.<\/p>\n

In those two games combined, Pollock has made 40 carries, 160 metres, 27 tackles and two turnovers; but even with big numbers like this, the back-rower feels it was very much his desire to lead from the front that helped him perform.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t changed anything; it\u2019s more of a mindset thing,\u201d he said. \u201cThese are the games you want to step up in, semi-finals and finals.<\/p>\n

Northampton v Exeter: Five takeaways as PREM Rugby Final delivers much-needed \u2018riposte\u2019 while Saints stalwart gets \u2018fairytale\u2019 ending<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to be one of those boys who steps up, and we had a lot of them today.\u201d<\/p>\n

His form in these two big games has likely seen him catapulted into the conversation for a starting shirt with England this summer, something he has done just once in his 10 Test appearances for the national side, and importantly against the Springboks too.<\/p>\n

In that frame, against the back-to-back world champions and the side ranked number one in the global rankings, he is very much relishing the chance in whatever role he is used in.<\/p>\n

\u201c(I\u2019m) relishing it massively,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got three big, big Test matches. The Six Nations didn\u2019t go our way, and we\u2019re still hurting from that, but I\u2019m really excited to get back into camp and be with the boys.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no bigger challenge than going to South Africa and playing away, at altitude in one of the biggest stadiums in the world. It\u2019s the things you dream of; today was a dream, and hopefully that will be another memory to lock away.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese Tests are the ones you want to play in. You want to go away and play against the best in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pollock certainly has his critics, but it\u2019s not getting to him in the slightest. If anything, he\u2019s only defying his haters with every appearance.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Comment: \u2018Sensational\u2019 Henry Pollock lives up to the hype in Northampton Saints\u2019 PREM Rugby Final triumph<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Henry Pollock has some rather vocal critics, not that it bothers him much. Not long ago, the Northampton…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":751323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,1208,165499,818,44,39992,20248,760,85],"class_list":["post-751322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-england","tag-henry-pollock","tag-home-page","tag-news","tag-northampton-saints","tag-premiership","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=751322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/751323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=751322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=751322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=751322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}