{"id":303053,"date":"2026-02-17T20:11:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T20:11:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/303053\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T20:11:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T20:11:19","slug":"steve-borthwick-backs-superstar-henry-pollock-to-handle-any-possible-wind-up-tactics-from-ireland-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/303053\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve Borthwick backs \u2018superstar\u2019 Henry Pollock to handle any possible wind-up tactics from Ireland \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steve Borthwick<\/a> has backed Henry Pollock to thrive in the face of any wind-up tactics from Ireland<\/a> on his first England<\/a> start on Saturday, tipping his rising star to bring \u201ceuphoria\u201d to Twickenham.<\/p>\n

Pollock comes into the side at number eight as England seek to get their Six Nations<\/a> campaign back on track and goes up against a raft of players and coaches with whom he rubbed shoulders on the British & Irish Lions<\/a> tour of Australia last summer. Borthwick, however, has challenged the 21-year-old player to express himself in front of the Twickenham crowd.<\/p>\n

Pollock\u2019s excitable nature and his penchant for try celebrations has regularly made him a target for opponents in the past, most notably for Northampton against Bordeaux, and he was involved in a post-match scuffle with the French prop Jefferson Poirot after the Champions Cup final last season. <\/p>\n

Bordeaux players rubbed salt into the wounds on social media after their victory and when the two sides met again in the competition this season, Pollock came in for further targeted treatment. He also scored a wonder try down the left wing, pinching the ball from Damian Penaud\u2019s hands in the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe seems to thrive on that doesn\u2019t he? It seems to just keep fuelling more of the energy that is within him,\u201d Borthwick said. \u201cI find it incredible watching him \u2013 there are not many players like him. We want superstars in the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think he needs any motivation from anything external, which I love \u2013 he is so intrinsically driven, he is that character. What you see is exactly what you get. He gets people excited, he gets people jumping up and down with joy. He can bring a euphoria to people that not many players can.<\/p>\n

\"\"Did Ireland restore confidence ahead of Twickenham showdown?<\/p>\n

\u201cI will challenge him to express himself, be himself and also bring the self-sacrifice that a team sport needs. He does [both] wonderfully well and I am looking forward to seeing him do it from the start.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pollock comes into the side with Ben Earl shifting to openside flanker and Tom Curry recalled at blindside flanker. Guy Pepper and Sam Underhill drop to the bench as a result with Borthwick backing Pollock to spearhead a more dynamic backrow performance than in the disappointing defeat against Scotland last weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a young man who is full of energy, full of character, full of beans all the time and he\u2019s already achieved so much in a very short space of time,\u201d Borthwick said. \u201cEach new level you challenge him with, he seems to thrive. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want Henry to get the ball in his hands. I want him to find the ball as often as possible. Ben Earl had more than 20 carries last weekend, and I want Henry to have as many carries as possible as well. If we do that, it\u2019s another string to the bow of this team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have a huge pack, we have speed and athleticism in our backrow, speed in our outside backs, beautiful decision makers and talented players at nine and 10. I want the crowd to be on their feet, to enjoy what we\u2019re doing. Having players who bring the euphoria is wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Borthwick cited a key turnover won by Pollock when on Champions Cup duty against Munster last year as evidence of his \u201cdrive and character\u201d, and reflected upon his first meeting with a teenage backrower who was \u201cwonderfully different\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"HenryHenry Pollock celebrates Northampton’s victory over Leinster in the Champions Cup semi-final at the Aviva Stadium. Photograph: Damien Eagers\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

\u201cHenry was barely out of school but I was told when you\u2019re up there, I should meet Henry Pollock, a young player, a huge future ahead of him, he\u2019s not yet played for the first team but I should meet him,\u201d Borthwick said. \u201cI was stood in the car park and this bundle of energy just bounced up to me.<\/p>\n

\u201cTypically when an 18-year-old meets the England head coach for the first time they are usually on the shy and retiring side. But this man is the complete opposite, gregarious, loud, the first thing he said was: \u2018How are you, mate?\u2019 I thought, right, you\u2019re different. Wonderfully different and that\u2019s the kind of character we\u2019ve got in the squad. He\u2019s larger than life, isn\u2019t he? Just wants to do well, wants to express himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

The suggestion on the Lions tour last summer was that Pollock was not selected for the Test series in part for his inability to get up to scratch with the finer details of Andy Farrell\u2019s<\/a> game plan, but Borthwick has no such concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a larger than life character who definitely exists,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is also the guy who sits and studies, watches and makes sure he delivers when he needs to deliver what is required for the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henry Arundell has been retained in Borthwick\u2019s side after escaping a suspensio<\/a>n for his red card for two yellows against Scotland. The Bath winger faced a disciplinary hearing on Tuesday morning but the panel determined that his dismissal in the 47th minute at Murrayfield was sufficient punishment.<\/p>\n

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell<\/a> will name his side to face England at 11am on Thursday. \u2013 Guardian<\/p>\n

ENGLAND (v Ireland): Freddie Steward; Tommy Freeman, Ollie \u200cLawrence, Fraser Dingwall, Henry Arundell; George Ford, Alex Mitchell; Ellis \u200bGenge, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Joe Heyes; Maro Itoje, Ollie Chessum; Tom Curry, Ben Earl, Henry Pollock.<\/p>\n

Replacements: Jamie George, Bevan Rodd, Trevor Davison, Alex Coles, Guy Pepper, Sam Underhill, Jack van Poortvliet, Marcus Smith. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steve Borthwick has backed Henry Pollock to thrive in the face of any wind-up tactics from Ireland on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303054,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[59241,61,60,1449,43,15551,57128],"class_list":{"0":"post-303053","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-england-rugby","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-ireland-rugby","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-six-nations","14":"tag-steve-borthwick"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}