Henry Pollock needs to be very careful to avoid a damaging shift in opinion towards him, after the latest chapter of his self-penned dictionary of “shithousery” was written in the East Midlands derby at Leicester on Saturday.
Pollock made his latest intervention into a scuffle during Northampton Saints’ 28-7 defeat at Welford Road that had little to do with him – which has quickly become as much a trademark of the mega-talented England back-rower as his try celebrations and general whooping and hollering, and off-field promotional tie-up with Eddie Hearn.
The difference this time, as the social-media clicks churned, with broadcaster TNT Sports gleefully tweeting “it’s all HEATING up!”, it was hard to find anyone rushing to Pollock’s defence.
Playing the villainous card is fine and sometimes fun until everyone including your own supporters gets cheesed off.
The danger for Pollock will be if the majority of England’s fans show they’ve had enough of it, or if the head coach Steve Borthwick runs out of patience.
This latest much-shared incident came as the half-time whistle sounded at Welford Road, with the spark seemingly provided by Pollock’s Northampton and England team-mate, scrum-half Alex Mitchell.
As Pollock predictably piled in to have his say, he was immediately grabbed by the Leicester captain – and another England team-mate – Ollie Chessum.
Pollock would have been backed up against a wall if they hadn’t been on a rugby pitch, with Chessum clearly uninterested with whatever point his opponent was making.
As the players made their way through the Crumbie Terrace into the changing rooms, Pollock bent over to tie his laces – necessary, perhaps, on the slippery, upwardly sloping steps – but Chessum, who is radiating the talent and gravitas of a future England skipper, wasn’t about to politely pause, and he instead shoved Pollock bodily forwards a couple of times, making the youngster look even sillier.
Who knows what else was said as the teams made their way indoors, but when they emerged again for the second half Northampton, who had been leading 7-3 at the time, substituted Pollock just 12 minutes into the second half, and ended up losing 28-7.
Leicester looked galvanised by the ruckus, and the post-match interviews from home full-back Freddie Steward – yet another England squad member – showed how much he had loved the bristly “old school” atmosphere.
It is as old as the hills in rugby for players to self-police the violence they accept is inherent in the physical struggle, and sort out antagonism among themselves. The hunch is when Pollock, Mitchell, Chessum, Steward and the rest of the England squad gather today for two days’ training ahead of the forthcoming Nations Championship, there will be no hangover of animosity.
But that is not to say there is no implication or point to reviewing Pollock’s behaviour.
As England work out how to beat Australia, Japan and New Zealand, they need to be rectifying the more prosaic foolishness that has bedevilled them this year, which is the penalties and sin-bin offences they concede under pressure.
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There were four yellow cards to England in the otherwise heartening win in Argentina, last time out in July, and 15 yellows across their eight Tests in 2026.
Pollock picked up two of those, at home to Ireland in February and away in Argentina.
Borthwick went out on a limb to big Pollock up when awarding him a rare start (the 21-year-old is normally on the bench for England) in what proved to be a dreadful team performance in losing to the Irish.
You wonder if it might be time for a word in the ear from the boss to the tyro, as the Test programme ramps up again.
The last thing Pollock and England need right now is self-inflicted trouble.