Along with his Alejandro Garnacho-inspired haircut, Henry Pollock is attempting his greatest to not get caught up within the hype round his performances after he helped England to a commanding 25-7 win over Australia on Saturday.
It was straightforward to neglect that Pollock has simply two England caps to his title. The primary got here again towards Wales in March and within the eight months between his debut and this weekend’s Wallabies match, he travelled with the British & Irish Lions on their tour of Australia.
It has been a whirlwind few months for the 20-year-old back-rower, however he is attempting to park the noise.
On Saturday, Pollock was certainly one of six Lions on England’s bench. Within the 52nd minute, Steve Borthwick turned to 5 of them to carry some fireplace to England’s efficiency.
Tom Curry, Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Will Stuart stood alongside Pollock ready to come back on — the sight of the quintet limbering up was greeted by an enormous roar.
Simply seven minutes later, he picked up a knock-down from the excellent Tom Roebuck and danced via the Australia defence to attain.
“I bought the ball after which I sort of clearly noticed the strive line and thought, ‘s—, I am in right here,'” Pollock stated.
“Then I bought tap-tackled and I used to be pondering, I hope there isn’t any one shut behind me. The moist climate sort of helped and sort of dragged myself over and yeah, cool second. Credit score to Fordy [George Ford] and [Tom Roebuck] Buck for getting within the air and that kick was nice.
“We talked all week about the place you’re on that pitch when that kick goes up and fortunate sufficient I used to be in the precise place.”
That makes it three tries in simply two appearances for England. Pollock would end the match within the sin-bin, proven a yellow card within the penultimate play of the match, however it had no impact on the ultimate end result.
When requested concerning the cheer and adoration he acquired when he got here off the bench after which scored, Pollock stated: “I suppose it comes with enjoying and comes with what I carry, I suppose. I do not assume an excessive amount of into it, however we’re at all times sort of enjoying to get the followers on our aspect and get the group on our aspect and we positively did that tonight.”
As he waited post-match to talk to the media, Pollock was catching up with messages on his cellphone, and in addition re-watching a clip of the scuffle on the finish of the match. He was checking to see if his brother, who lives in Hong Kong, had woken as much as watch his efficiency.
“I instructed him I used to be like ‘second half, buddy. Set your alarm for that,'” Pollock stated.
And all that along with his new-look haircut, with bleached hair.
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“Yeah, simply thought it could be completely different. I simply noticed [Chelsea player] Garnacho was dyeing his hair ages in the past, so I assumed, yeah, f— it, why not? [He is] an excellent participant, at all times preferred him. Simply thought I would change it up and it was alright.”
Up subsequent for England is Fiji, and Pollock is hoping to maintain his place within the aspect. He was a part of England’s “bomb squad” towards the Wallabies however the competitors is such that he’s not taking something as a right.
“We had an incredible summer season and coming again into this setting, it is completely different and I am loving the brand new challenges,” he stated.
“We have got an important group and an important teaching employees round us and we’re all simply attempting to be higher. We have got an incredible depth within the again row with Peps [Guy Pepper], [Tom] Curry, Unders [Sam Underhill], Riggsy [Ben Earl] who clearly bought a person of the match at the moment.
“So it is a aggressive place to be in, that is the place you need to be. You need to be aggressive, you need to be competing with a few of the greatest on the earth and we’re positively doing that. So I am having fun with my rugby and I can in all probability converse on behalf of all of the boys. We’re simply having fun with competing with one another every single day and simply coaching. It is simply enjoyable.”
