James Haskell used to do this comedy routine with Owen Farrell. They were on England’s 2016 tour to Australia. Haskell walked around camp with his selfie-stick and his GoPro, filming everything.
The sketch was that Farrell wanted nothing to do with him or his camera. Farrell was probably only half-joking. He was the anti-Haskell, never a man to chase the flashbulbs.
Guy Pepper and Henry Pollock had never met before the autumn internationals, but they roomed together, they went on holiday together to Dubai, and they have forged a dynamic back-row alliance that has been transformational for England. Opposites attract. Pepper is the anti-Pollock, the least likely of England’s breakthrough stars of 2025 to enjoy the camera.
“There’s definitely one that loves the limelight more than the other,” Pepper says, laughing.
“I had never met him before November. I didn’t think I was going to like him. But he is a great person to be around. People like him help to bring the team together in a short space of time.
“He’s honestly a completely different person in the room. He’s constant, but not actually as full-on as you think. But you have to put up with a lot of bullshit. At 8pm, you tell him to wind his neck in and he sorts himself out. It’s quiet time.”
Pepper and Pollock, centre, have very different games but are both key to Borthwick’s back row
DAN MULLAN – RFU/THE RFU COLLECTION VIA GETTY IMAGES
Importantly, Pepper, 22, and Pollock, 21, share this unyielding drive to succeed, but that contrast in character is evident on the field.
Pollock is the exuberant, eye-catching talent, a flanker and part-time wing capable of outlandish moments of skill, whose development work is to become more Pepper, more focused on improving the less glamorous areas of the game.
Pepper, meanwhile, revels in the unseen graft that allows others to shine. Defensively, his ability to read the game and shut down danger moments is prized by the England management, along with his contribution to the two-man tackle strategy which slows down opposition ball.
While Pollock has been making the headlines with his exuberant celebrations, Pepper has quietly gone about his business to great effect
DAN MULLAN /GETTY IMAGES
Pepper’s work-on is to become more Pollock, more prominent in attack, and to get his hands on the ball because he has the athletic potential to break a game open.
The beauty for Steve Borthwick, the England head coach, is that he can deploy them both together. Pepper and Pollock have been integral to extending England’s winning run to 12 Tests, allowing Borthwick to field a six-two bench and transform an area of weakness into the team’s super-strength. Pepper and Pollock head to Murrayfield on Saturday with neither having lost a game in England colours.
Pollock, right, gets to work on Pepper during a break in training
ANDREW FOSKER/SHUTTERSTOCK
“Henry has been playing some unbelievable rugby, scoring some crazy tries which I am very jealous of,” Pepper says. “He should have hit more rucks. No, I’m joking. Hopefully, we can continue winning games together.”
Borthwick was only a few days into his tenure as England head coach when Richard Hill, the senior team manager and back-row mentor, said to him: “You’ve got to go and watch Guy Pepper.”
Hill had given the same advice to Eddie Jones about Sam Underhill days after he started as Borthwick’s predecessor. Borthwick flew to Newcastle and within half an hour he knew he was watching a Test player of the future.
Pepper had grown up around rugby. His father, Martin, played as a flanker and hooker for Harlequins. Pepper had to be reined in from tackling team-mates in junior touch rugby, so there was never any doubt his destiny was in the back row.
“It’s more my personality and the way I played sport, not just rugby,” he says. “I always wanted to be around everything. I could never see myself on the wing, just stood there.
“I enjoy those key moments in the game, where you’ve got to balance caution with winning the ball back for the team or securing the ball for others to play with.”
Pepper has been dealing with arthritis in his ankle since he was six. It requires an injection every two weeks. But that love of the physical was enhanced at Newcastle Red Bulls (nee Falcons), where he worked under Steve Diamond and his ethos of “legalised violence”.
Pepper during his days at Newcastle, where he developed a taste for “dominating” the collisions
Initially, Pepper is not sure whether he should be quoted repeating the Diamond mantra. But why not? Those big tackles epitomise what he loves most about the game.
“Until now, I have never really thought about why — but it is that feeling of excitement when you have dominated,” he says. “It’s like a reward. That’s why I play the game and we need to celebrate that you’re allowed to be legally violent.”
When Pepper had an opportunity to leave Newcastle in 2024, there was no shortage of suitors. Many were offering him regular first-team rugby in the Gallagher Prem. Johann van Graan, Bath’s director of rugby, had set his sights on signing Pepper following a record 34-tackle performance against them in December 2023.
Initially, Pepper had not been sure about Bath because, the previous year, they had been as bad as Newcastle. But Van Graan convinced Pepper of his vision.
Instead of taking the easier route, Pepper joined a club that would force him to work for his minutes because of the intense back-row competition from Underhill, Miles Reid, Ted Hill and Josh Bayliss. That decision alone reveals much about the man.
“I was prepared to sacrifice minutes for becoming a better player,” he says.
Pepper piles in for Bath at The Rec
SIMON KING/PROSPORTS/SHUTTERSTOCK
Pepper initially moved into the academy house and by the end of the season he was man of the match in both the semi-final and the final as Bath won the Gallagher Prem title.
Pepper had a spectacular solo try chalked off at Twickenham because of a knock-on earlier in the move.
He made his international breakthrough on England’s summer tour of Argentina and teed up a try for Jack van Poortvliet following a similarly dynamic break.
Two flashes of the attacking threat which he is being urged to replicate by Borthwick and by his Bath mentor, Andy Robinson.
Pepper joined the club as a specialist No7. His turnover prowess prompted Van Graan, who is not prone to making idle comments, to compare his technique and work rate to Richie McCaw. There can be no loftier praise. But Pepper has developed into a flanker who can play both sides.
“Growing up, I was adamant that I was an open-side flanker,” he says. “I saw them as two different positions. I can remember at Falcons, in a pre-season game against Edinburgh, I was pissed off because I was picked at six. Making the move down to Bath, I had to get over that. Andy Robinson has been great with me. He is an absolute nause of a seven and he has been drumming into me about getting on the shoulder of the fly half and being the first one in position to support a half break.”
Robinson, the former England head coach, played against Pepper’s father in the 1990s and is a master of the art of back-row play. He loves the balance that England have developed in their back row, with the emergence of Pepper and Pollock allowing Borthwick to use five classic open-side flankers across 80 minutes and finish games with four on the field.
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“The thing I like about England at the moment is their inside support play and making sure their continuity game is right up there with the best in the world. That will make a difference. With a 6-2 bench you can lay it all out there knowing two more guys are coming on,” Robinson says.
“Guy, Sam and Ben are always in the game in attack and defence. Steve has got three back-rowers who can interchange their roles. Back row is the most competitive position. You have to have an outstanding skill set to even be competitive. Guy has got this success because of his drive. He is a super rugby player.”
He won’t stay out of the limelight for long.
Scotland v England
Murrayfield
Saturday, 4.40pm
TV ITV1