There’s no doubt Henry Pollock has something special about him.
He’s going to be a fantastic player for England’s long-term future. To me, Pollock is a hybrid player. He’s got the pace of a winger, the footwork of a centre and the ability as a back-row to win breakdown penalties by getting over the ball. He can do it all and that’s invaluable.
Pollock is a magnet for action. Whenever he’s on the field, good things seem to happen to him. He always seems to find the ball and be at the centre of the game.
Clearly, he’s in exceptional form right now too.
That was shown once again when he came off the bench to score a second-half hat-trick against Fiji in England’s 73-8 hammering of the Pacific Islanders in Liverpool.
It will only serve to increase the clamour for Pollock to start at international level, but I think the English rugby public needs to be careful with him. He’s a player of such talent that there’s no need to rush him. He’s still only 21 and needs to be managed sensibly.
I think Steve Borthwick is doing that very well as England coach.
Henry Pollock is going to be a fantastic player for England’s long-term future, says Eddie Jones
The second half of England’s win at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium was a blow out. By that, I mean England were totally dominant. Fiji were all at sea. It was one-way traffic.
As a coach, you have to be wary about over analysing or taking too much from such situations. I don’t think that game had a huge wider significance.
It reminded me of the second innings of a cricket match, where one team is dominant and runs can be easy to come by.
I remember the former Australian cricketer Dean Jones. He averaged nearly 50 in Test cricket, but a lot of his runs came in innings where the match had already been decided either way. Jones scored a lot of what those in cricket would call ‘cheap runs’ in that they didn’t really impact the result of the game.
Pollock’s Fiji hat-trick can be put in the same category. That’s not a criticism of him, though. He showed brilliant pace and awareness for his tries at the weekend and it’s not his fault Fiji weren’t at the races. The easy thing for Steve now would be to jump on the Pollock bandwagon like the supporters on the basis of his Fiji treble, but I think it’s best keeping him as a replacement for Argentina on Saturday and letting him continue to have positive impacts from the bench.
Pollock reminds me a little bit of the former South African back-row Bobby Skinstad. He was also very quick and ideal to have on the field when the game opened up.
Pollock’s next challenge is to develop so he can have an impact on matches from the start. I do think he certainly has the ability to do that, but it’s a very different challenge to make the hard yards from the off when matches are tighter. Pollock has started for England – against Ireland in the Six Nations – and more chances will certainly come his way in time.
There’s a lot of hype about Pollock and rightly so, but I’ve seen this before in English rugby and it’s really important he’s not built up so high that he doesn’t fulfil his potential.
That happened in my time as coach with Marcus Smith. Before him, it was Danny Cipriani. I don’t think Cipriani achieved what he was capable of. Smith is still in the England set-up, but there’s not as much written about him now although I don’t think he’s been helped by playing full-back.
Pollock’s time to be a regular starter will come. I think he can look at Ardie Savea for inspiration. Savea is now New Zealand captain and one of the best back-rows in the world.
He started out as a very dynamic running forward but evolved into a nasty carrier who can do the gritty, unseen work as well as the flash stuff. Pollock definitely has the potential to be that sort of player in time, so long as he focuses on the hard yards required to be successful at the highest level.
But Pollock’s still only 21 and needs to be managed sensibly. Steve Borthwick is doing that very well as England coach
Those advising him will be a big part of that. I think it’s great he signed with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom agency because players deserve the chance to make money.
But I hope Hearn and those close to Pollock don’t allow him to get distracted.
I’m sure the player himself will want to start. That would only be human nature and his performances at the end of the season both for Northampton in their Prem title win and with England have been impressive. But I would be surprised if he was in from the off against Argentina.
What a great week it promises to be for English sport, with the footballers and the rugby team both taking on Argentina in the coming days. For the rugby side, it will be tough to beat the Pumas on their home turf, but they will have a bit of confidence about them after scoring 11 tries.
Whatever the strength of the opposition, the Fiji game was a really positive result as it ended a run of five straight losses. When you’re in trouble like that as a team, you take any win you can. So, the Fiji scoreline would have been ideal for Steve and the squad. Now, regardless of Pollock, the challenge has to be to win in Santiago del Estero.
England sealed a series victory away to the Pumas last summer without their best players who were on duty with the Lions.
At full strength, they can definitely win there again. If they do, it will be a positive end to what has been a tough few months and relieve some of the pressure on Steve.
My biggest takeaway from the first two rounds of the Nations Championship has been how France continue to amaze with their strength in depth.
Fabien Galthie’s side have really impressed me despite being without a host of first-choice players such as Antoine Dupont, Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Thomas Ramos.
There have been others absent too, mainly from Toulouse after their Top14 win. France have so many good players they can pick from. I thought they played very well when they ran New Zealand close in round one and then they beat Australia comfortably, both with what is undoubtedly nowhere near their first-choice team.
The quality of France’s ball movement is exceptional. To be able to play in that way with the spine of the side absent shows me that they are very, very well coached by Galthie. French rugby is doing a hell of a lot right. The Top14 is a brilliant league and the talent in the country is being transferred to the national team who have won the past two Six Nations.
The next challenge for France is to win a World Cup. They will certainly be genuine contenders for the tournament in Australia next year.
It’s been a real positive for the Japan side I coach to be involved in the Nations Championship and I’ve been delighted by the start my team has made.
To beat an Italy side who got the better of Scotland and England in the Six Nations in our first game was a really encouraging opening. Italy are a vastly-improved side, so that was a really good result which put confidence into the team.
Then, at the weekend, we ran Ireland close in Newcastle, Australia. We were very much in the game for long periods and at one point, I thought an upset was on the cards. Our final game is back in Japan against France in Tokyo. That will be our toughest test yet.
