{"id":764870,"date":"2026-09-09T09:16:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T09:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/764870\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T09:16:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T09:16:08","slug":"henry-pollock-gets-answer-to-1m-demand-and-all-blacks-hit-by-springbok-warning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/764870\/","title":{"rendered":"Henry Pollock gets answer to \u00a31m demand and All Blacks hit by Springbok warning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here are your rugby morning headlines for Wednesday, September 9.<\/p>\n

Henry Pollock to get massive pay bump after Eddie Hearn demand<\/p>\n

Henry Pollock is set to receive a massive pay rise after Northampton Saints moved closer to securing the England star’s future following Eddie Hearn’s declaration that he is a \u201cseven-figure player\u201d.<\/p>\n

According to The Times<\/a>, the 21-year-old is expected to extend his contract with the Gallagher Premiership champions until 2029, with Saints close to confirming a deal that would keep him at Franklin’s Gardens for at least two more seasons.<\/p>\n

Pollock’s new contract is said to be worth around \u00a3400,000 a year for the 2027\/28 and 2028\/29 campaigns, representing a significant increase on his current club salary of approximately \u00a3140,000.<\/p>\n

He also earns around \u00a3150,000 a year through an enhanced England Elite Player Squad contract.<\/p>\n

Pollock’s future has been one of the major talking points of the summer after Hearn, who represents his commercial interests through Matchroom, labelled him a \u201cseven-figure player\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, Hearn also revealed that Pollock’s preference was to remain at Northampton, where he has established himself as one of the most exciting young forwards in English rugby.<\/p>\n

That desire appears to have helped Saints fend off potential interest, with director of rugby Phil Dowson expressing confidence last week that a deal could be reached.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are still pushing it through,\u201d Dowson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have gone straight to the million-pound remark, but the other thing Eddie Hearn said is that Henry wants to win stuff, to stay at Saints and to play with our group of players. He wants to win the World Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cI embrace that. I am all for that. The appetite is for him to stay. Now, we’ve got to find a happy medium. We really want to keep him, he really wants to stay, and that’s a great start.\u201d<\/p>\n

JOIN OUR WALES RUGBY FACEBOOK PAGE Latest news, analysis and much more<\/a><\/p>\n

New Zealand hit by fresh Springbok warning<\/p>\n

South Africa forwards coach Deon Davids has warned New Zealand that the Springboks’ set-piece is still improving as they prepare for Saturday’s fourth and final Test in Baltimore.<\/p>\n

The Boks lead the series 2-1 after a 29-24 victory in Soweto and can clinch the Greatest Rivalry series outright against the All Blacks this weekend.<\/p>\n

Davids believes South Africa’s work at scrum, lineout and maul is beginning to deliver, but insists there is still plenty of room for improvement from the pack.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing into this series, we understood that it was going to be very important for us to have a good set piece,\u201d Davids said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the hard work that has been put into the scrums, the lineouts and our mauling is starting to show now.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just happy that things have come together at this stage to provide a solid platform for our attack and defence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The effectiveness of the Springboks’ lineout was particularly evident in the third Test, when Malcolm Marx finished off a powerful maul for a crucial try.<\/p>\n

Davids was delighted with the execution given the difficult conditions in Soweto, with strong and shifting winds making life difficult for the hookers and jumpers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was quite challenging for us on Saturday because the conditions were very, very difficult,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were winds from different angles all over the field, so it was quite difficult for the hookers to find the right spot and get the timing right with the jumpers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI must commend them on how they executed and read the conditions. It allowed us to get a 100% success rate.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the forwards coach believes South Africa can still take another step forward against New Zealand.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re continuously evaluating our systems, our individual effort and our effort as a pack of forwards,\u201d Davids said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s still room for improvement and, from a set-piece perspective, we continue to strive to improve and find better cohesion with our attack and defence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davids also highlighted the experience within the Springbok pack, with players from different franchises sharing ideas and helping to develop their combinations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of experience in the pack and we\u2019ve got players coming from different franchises,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always try to learn from each other and share ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

English duo told they must prove themselves again<\/p>\n

Courtney Lawes and Joe Marchant have been warned they will have to perform \u201cover and above\u201d their England rivals if they are to force their way back into Steve Borthwick\u2019s squad.<\/p>\n

The pair are available for international selection again after returning to the Premiership following spells in France, with Lawes joining Sale Sharks from Brive and Marchant returning from Stade Fran\u00e7ais.<\/p>\n

However, neither has been included in England\u2019s latest training squad ahead of November\u2019s Nations Championship fixtures.<\/p>\n

With the Premiership season now underway, the duo are likely to have only a handful of matches to make their case for a recall.<\/p>\n

England senior assistant coach Richard Wigglesworth welcomed their returns but made it clear that neither player would be guaranteed a place in Borthwick\u2019s side.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is great to have Courtney back, [he has] unbelievable experience, an England legend,\u201d Wigglesworth said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want as much quality as we can have in the league but they are going to have to go and play well because there are some good players in the room and to put them in you have to leave someone else out.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo they would have to go over and above that I would say.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawes, 37, won 105 England caps and has not played for his country since the 2023 World Cup semi-final defeat by South Africa.<\/p>\n

The former England captain has returned to the Premiership with ambitions of earning one final international opportunity and would offer Borthwick considerable experience and leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cExperience at the highest level. Leadership has got all different sorts of ways,\u201d Wigglesworth added.<\/p>\n

\u201cExperience, he\u2019s certainly got that, but we\u2019re keen to watch him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marchant, meanwhile, has won 26 England caps and featured in the victory over Argentina in the 2023 World Cup third-place play-off.<\/p>\n

Both players’ return to the Premiership has reopened the door to England, but they now face a battle to prove they deserve to walk through it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here are your rugby morning headlines for Wednesday, September 9. Henry Pollock to get massive pay bump after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":764871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[7166,36918,5903,30347,101,7168,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-764870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-england-rugby-union-team","tag-new-zealand-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-south-africa-rugby-team","tag-sports","tag-todays-updates","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764870","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=764870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/764871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=764870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=764870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=764870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}