Back-row scored stunning try against Australia but perhaps he can be advised to rein in fractionally some of his antics
The sporting gods can sometimes be mischievous. Steve Borthwick’s vision of rugby heaven is a cohesive team that consistently delivers without huge amounts of fuss and squeezes the life out of opponents like a white-shirted python. Control, physicality, tactical acumen and work rate will forever be more central to his vision of Test match success than individual front-page razzle-dazzle.
And what happens? With almost comic timing the door to the England dressing room has been flung off its hinges by a 20-year-old rock star forward with the ability to transform games on his own. Henry Pollock has now scored three tries in 61 minutes of international rugby, is all over social media and already has half the rugby world itching to punch his lights out.
Saturday’s game, in which England ultimately eased to a 25-7 win over the Wallabies, will certainly have made an impression on the Australian psyche. On one side of the ledger there was the brilliant one-handed scoop off the deck that preceded the Northampton back-row’s stunning 58th-minute try. On the other were the wind-up antics and boorish roaring in the faces of opponents that, rightly or wrongly, make him look like an arrogant, entitled, private-school-educated prat.
