The home of Ampthill RUFC, Dillingham Park, is gloriously quaint, flanked on all sides by the forests of rural Bedfordshire. A visit to the Championship club requires the players of both teams to make their way out among the oak trees that cloak the glade of pitches, trudging through the mud out into an anachronistic arena for elite sport. And so it was at this somewhat unlikely location where on 22 December 2023, when much of the rest of the United Kingdom were entering their festive stupor, that a gloriously-gifted teenage back row announced his arrival on the senior stage; an acorn soon to grow to great things falling in the forest and producing a try heard around the world.
Those inside rugby already had passing familiarity with the schoolboy exploits of Henry Pollock, a star at Stowe and an England Under-18 captain. But having been granted an opportunity to impress in his first year out of Northampton’s academy on loan with the Bedford Blues, the openside flanker burst into the consciousness of the rugby public with a searing 75-metre score, in the process rounding two backs and holding off another with pace and power belying his tender years.
And so began a rapid rise through the ranks of English rugby union. Mere months later, Pollock was a key part of England’s U20 side as they secured the Six Nations title, bouncing back from a tough outing against Ireland to star against France in a febrile atmosphere in Pau. Come the summer, Pollock was the star of the side that secured World Rugby U20 Championship triumph in South Africa, England’s first for eight years.
So far, so good for a flanker clearly of huge talent – but recent history is littered with age-group stars who took time to make the grade at senior level. Ben Earl was a similar schoolboy sensation who had to toil to earn his first international opportunity, the Saracen taking time to realise his potential with England. But those who know felt there was something different about Pollock – and he quickly proved them right. When the British and Irish Lions squad is named by Andy Farrell on Thursday, it would now be something of a surprise if a 20-year-old with one senior cap is not named among the back row unit to take on the Wallabies.
A couple of bumps there may have been along the way but this season has gone better even than Pollock’s biggest backers might have thought. With the departures of Lewis Ludlam and Courtney Lawes freeing up space in Northampton’s back row, the coaching hierarchy at Saints figured it best to take a patient approach, knowing that the time would come for their academy prospect to step in. But having left him out of the squad for the first two games of the Premiership season after a gruelling summer, Pollock has been virtually ever-present ever since.
“He doesn’t need protecting,” director of rugby Phil Dowson said recently. “I’m trying to protect everybody else. He’s mad for it. That’s what’s great. Often, if not always, you’d have 18-, 19-year-olds who might be overawed whereas he actually feeds off that and that’s just because he’s a slightly different character.”
The confidence that Pollock carries is clear on and off the field. Some teammates have found it difficult to adjust to how cocksure and conceited the youngster can seem. Where in the past more reserved figures have been favoured, there is a cross-sport trend of a new generation of athletes highly confident in their abilities and prepared to be brash and bold in their proclamations. Pollock is a shining example.
But where other highly-rated young players have come into the England environment and shrunk or struggled, the Northampton openside has backed his words up. His debut at the end of the Six Nations in Cardiff came with the complete confidence of the coaching staff; a sparky two-try cameo against Wales was just a glimpse of what they had seen in training.
“He just comes on and wants to win,” head coach Steve Borthwick said in the immediacy of that win. “He comes on and wants the ball. And if there’s something I could change and develop with this team through this whole next generation, it is for them to be energised by the shirt, bring you all your personality, bring all your skill, and he did that today.”
There are plenty who have tried to take Pollock down a peg, including Lawes in Northampton training. The big performances have kept on coming, though. His showing against Leinster in the Investec Champions Cup semi-final was another landmark moment, out-shining even a very good Josh van der Flier on the opposite side. 18 tackles, 21 defensive rucks hit, and another sensational solo score in which he cut between RG Snyman and Andrew Porter before rounding Sam Prendergast with effortless ease showcased his skillset in full. To reach for a lofty comparison, there are shades of All Black Ardie Savea to the way an elite athlete moves in space.
“Virtually every single game, he’s doing something that would be a special moment in any other player’s season,” Jason Sivil, a member of Northampton’s strength and conditioning team, told The Telegraph recently. “I’ve been working in this field for 20 years and there are very, very few players as gifted as Henry is.
“If Henry was in South Africa, he’d be an outlier. There are people physically put together like him, but not a lot of them. It wouldn’t matter where Henry is in the world, he would be a stand-out.”
Clearly there is refinement required. Pollock, like most scavenging sevens, can have a tendency to draw the referee’s whistle; a student of the dark arts will at times fall foul of the lawbook. Competition for back row places is fierce – it is worth remembering that Pollock probably began the Six Nations as England’s fourth-choice openside even with Sam Underhill injured and Jack Willis unavailable. There is nothing that Tom Curry, Ben Curry and Earl have done since to knock them down the pecking order.
So it may be that Pollock heads instead for Argentina with Borthwick’s side. But the flanker should keep his passport to hand on his first England tour, for it may not be long until the Lions call comes.
