{"id":751537,"date":"2026-06-21T21:04:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T21:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/751537\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T21:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T21:04:08","slug":"pollock-and-smith-tune-into-springbok-summer-after-on-song-saints-prem-triumph-prem-rugby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/751537\/","title":{"rendered":"Pollock and Smith tune into Springbok summer after on-song Saints\u2019 Prem triumph | Prem Rugby"},"content":{"rendered":"

Of all the celebratory snapshots of Northampton\u2019s Prem final triumph<\/a>, perhaps the best was the morning-after picture of Henry Pollock and Fin Smith in bed with the trophy accompanied by backing vocals from Frank Sinatra. \u201cThat\u2019s life, that\u2019s what all the people say. You\u2019re riding high in April, shot down in May. But I know I\u2019m going to change that tune, when I\u2019m back on top, back on top in June \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Talk about suitably perfect lyrics. Saints may have finished top of the regular-season table but when they were being smashed 41-17 at Leicester<\/a> on 9 May they looked far from dead certs to collect a second title in three years. To have claimed it on the occasion of their captain, George Furbank, making his final Saints appearance made it all the sweeter for Pollock, Smith and all his other close compadres.<\/p>\n

The drinks will continue to flow in the East Midlands for a while after their 26-17 victory. There were a few moments when Exeter<\/a> threatened to gatecrash their party but, ultimately, the Chiefs\u2019 first\u2011half profligacy and an exhausting run of big games finally caught up with them. The yellow card for their captain, Dafydd Jenkins, followed by two well-taken tries within four minutes from George Hendy, proved the final straw.<\/p>\n

At some stage the focus in Northampton will have to turn to replacing the Harlequins-bound Furbank<\/a>, whose ability and example will be sorely missed. The good news, for now, is that this young Saints side remain in enlightened coaching hands in the shape of Phil Dowson and Sam Vesty, who have instilled a gameplan and a team bond that make them increasingly strong candidates as and when England seek fresh coaching inspiration.<\/p>\n

The departing Northampton captain, George Furbank, charges through an Exeter tackle during the Prem final. Photograph: Phil Mingo\/PPAUK\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

In the meantime it is Pollock, Smith and co who must lie back and think of England, whose Nations Championship squad is being announced on Monday. In theory, nothing should sharpen the mind more than a flight to South Africa on Wednesday, before the Test on Saturday week against the world champions. In practice it has been another achingly long domestic slog and Steve Borthwick will head south with some seriously battered and patched-up foot soldiers.<\/p>\n

Exeter\u2019s Manny Feyi-Waboso, for instance, somehow played on Saturday despite a recently broken jaw. Given he underwent surgery on the injury only 17 days previously, things could easily have gone painfully awry. \u201cWe were planning on the first game being hopefully South Africa,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven then the chances of my jaw healing probably wouldn\u2019t be high. We all sat down with the surgeon \u2026 and they just laid the information out to me. They said that [with] a direct blow to the jaw it\u2019s likely the repair is going to fail, but you can try.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still a bit sore to touch but when the adrenaline\u2019s pumping and you\u2019ve got some painkillers you\u2019re all right. I\u2019m just happy the jaw stayed intact and it hasn\u2019t jeopardised my chances to be away with England.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given Greg Fisilau also played on with a cracked eye socket and Archie McParland now has a lacerated knee, it leaves Borthwick to make a call. Is there any huge benefit, ultimately, in dragging barely fit players across three continents when what they need is a break? Thankfully, with George Martin, Alex Coles and Ollie Chessum all ready for duty, Maro Itoje is now poised for a summer off and hopefully the same will apply to one or two others.<\/p>\n

On the flipside, Pollock is clearly itching to make a successful return to the country where he shared in a junior world title with England Under-20s in 2024. He has already had 29 competitive games for club and country this season on the back of the British & Irish Lions tour last year, but his latest man\u2011of\u2011the\u2011match display on Saturday has sharpened his appetite for more.<\/p>\n

A knitted Henry Pollock at Northampton Saints\u2019 trophy parade in Northampton on Sunday. Photograph: David Rogers\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got three big, big Test matches,\u201d he said. \u201cObviously the Six Nations didn\u2019t go our way and we are still hurting from that a little bit. I\u2019m buzzing to get into camp and be around the boys again. There is no bigger challenge than going to South Africa and playing away at altitude in one of the biggest stadiums in the world. Those are the things you dream of.\u201d<\/p>\n

While not every South African is a fan of Pollock\u2019s ebullient on-field persona \u2013 \u201cThey can talk all they want \u2026 I guess I keep showing up\u201d \u2013 it is also a chance for the 21\u2011year\u2011old to measure his progress in comparison with the world\u2019s best. \u201cObviously I want to let my hair down [this weekend] but I know in the back of my mind we\u2019ve still got a job to do in the summer. There are lots of demands on us but we trust in the coaches and staff to manage us well. Those games are the ones you want to play in. You want to go away and play against the best in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

To borrow again from Sinatra, come fly with me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Of all the celebratory snapshots of Northampton\u2019s Prem final triumph, perhaps the best was the morning-after picture of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":751538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-751537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751537","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=751537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/751538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=751537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=751537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=751537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}