A first England start at No.8 for their young back-row ball of energy Henry Pollock is exciting the home media corps as much as the sell-out crowd heading to Twickenham on Saturday for the Guinness Six Nations clash with Ireland.
Irish skipper Caelan Doris learned that first-hand on the eve of the match as he fielded question after question on his 21-year-old opposite number for the day from English reporters.
In fairness, having faced him for Leinster against Pollock’s Northampton Saints in last season’s Champions Cup semi-final, Doris is in a good position to assess the potential impact from a vocal and expressive player whose teammates rave about and crowds adore but opponents tend to want shut up.
Pollock is perhaps the epitome of an England side with a reputation for chirping at every opportunity, as Doris noted during his captain’s run press conference at Twickenham on Friday, though the Ireland star said dealing with on-pitch noise was not a focal point of conversations within the squad this week.
“No, we haven’t put too much emphasis on that sort of stuff,” Doris said. “We’re aware of that, like they like to celebrate things and get in your face over knock-ons and stuff like that, but again, it’s embracing the bit of adversity and kind of being next-moment focused and being calm around those bits and being able to bring a bit of physicality when it matters.”
Similarly, he turned talk of an individual battle between rival No.8s into a wider debate, bringing in England’s flankers Tom Curry and Ben Earl and his own back-row team-mates Tadhg Beirne and Josh van der Flier into the conversation.
“I mean, probably more as a back-row unit we’ll look at that and breakdown is going to be a key element of that. They’ve got three very capable sevens, essentially they’ve all got experience at playing (number) seven as well, so, yeah, the breakdown is going to be a big one, but the contact area collision in general I think will be good.
“I mean, (Ben) Earl has obviously played a lot of 8 as well, and so they’re somewhat interchangeable there I would say.”
The questions around Pollock persisted, though, and Doris was drawn towards the task of nullifying his rival’s threat on Saturday.
“Cutting out time and space as much as possible. He’s got the ability to make something happen from not a whole lot, so we’re going to need to pressure him as a back row. They’ve got a lot of breakdown threats, but also the ability with ball in hand to make something happen. So it’s going to be a good battle there.
“He’s obviously scored a lot of very good tries and he’s had some big moments and I’m sure he’ll be hoping to do the same tomorrow.
“For us, it’s about putting him under pressure as much as possible, cutting out time where possible and being connected around him.”
Over in the other camp, Pollock was also the main event as assistant coach Lee Blackett assessed the rise of England’s not-so-secret weapon.
“Does that kid ever change?” Blackett wondered. “From watching him as an 18-year-old and everyone telling me about him, you see how he played Under-20s. You ask if he can survive in the Premiership, week-in, week-out. He rises to that pretty sharp.
“Then you’re talking business end of the European competition. Again, he rises. Then you talk about internationals and what does he do first game? He picks up a couple of tries against Wales. Every time he seems to step up, he seems to rise again.
“He’s massively excited. He’s a guy with big moments and hopefully he has a couple more tomorrow.”
Blackett added: “In terms of personality, I don’t think there are many Henrys around. He’s quite infectious, actually. He’s great to work with, one of those guys who puts a smile on your face.
“In terms of attributes, there’s so much speed and power around him for such a young lad. There are a few of them around but he’s pretty special.”
