{"id":442537,"date":"2026-02-24T06:51:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T06:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/442537\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T06:51:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T06:51:10","slug":"eddie-jones-likens-henry-pollock-to-bok-world-cup-winner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/442537\/","title":{"rendered":"Eddie Jones likens Henry Pollock to Bok World Cup winner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Former England<\/a> head coach Eddie Jones believes his successor Steve Borthwick<\/a> will look back on his decision to start Henry Pollock<\/a> as one he got wrong in Ireland\u2019s comprehensive 42-21 victory at Twickenham\u2019s Allianz Stadium in round three of the Guinness Six Nations.<\/p>\n

Northampton<\/a> Saints\u2019 21-year-old back-row made his first start for England against Andy Farrell\u2019s side having earned his first seven caps for his country from the bench.<\/p>\n

There was a smattering of occasions where Pollock flickered \u2013 a half-break in the first half and a burst down the right flank in the second half \u2013 but he was largely neutralised by the visitors, who dominated England at the breakdown.<\/p>\n

Jones has since questioned the decision to start Pollock, saying he\u2019s not a \u201cgrind player,\u201d perhaps in contrast to Sam Underhill<\/a>, who found himself on the bench after starting the opening two matches.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the\u00a0Rugby Unity<\/a>\u00a0podcast, the Australian likened Pollock to 2007 Rugby World Cup-winning Springbok Bobby Skinstad, suggesting they are both better suited to 20-minute cameos.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Italy <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

England <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cSteve will probably look back a think \u2018maybe I didn\u2019t get a few things right,’\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cStarting Pollock \u2013 Pollock, to me, is like Bobby Skinstad. Good looking, always got a sun tan and can play. But he\u2019s one of those blokes who play for 20 minutes. He\u2019s one of those players who finds himself in the right position but he\u2019s not a grind player.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo play a full 80 in the back-row, you\u2019ve got to be prepared to grind, and maybe that\u2019s not the best job for him. Maybe that\u2019s not the best job for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Australia<\/a> coach Ewen McKenzie<\/a> shared the same opinion as Jones on the podcast, saying: \u201cHe play\u2019s as a wider ranging player that can sniff opportunities, which has been really good in the last 20. That\u2019s not so good in the first 20 because you can be a man short in the physical exchanges.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got the likes of the Earl-type players who are the ones who needed to mix it with Ireland<\/a> early on in the physical exchanges and you try and get some dominance there and then you get the right to play. They never got that, so guys like Ford are trying to play the game on the back foot and never got to their kicking game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former England head coach Eddie Jones believes his successor Steve Borthwick will look back on his decision to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-442537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}