Why Henry Pollock could mirror Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen on British & Irish Lions tour of Australia
Updated 16/06/2025 at 13:28 GMT+1
There have been some coruscating breakout performances from young English sportspeople over the years - could Henry Pollock be the next? The stage is set for the 20-year-old Northampton flanker after being selected for the British & Irish Lions tour to Australia. TNT Sports sat down with 2005 Lion Ben Kay ahead of Andy Farrell's side getting their first outing against Argentina in Dublin.
Can Pollock 'do a Rooney' on Lions tour down under?
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What mark will Henry Pollock make on the British & Irish Lions tour of Australia?
Having scored two tries on his England debut earlier this year, starred in a European Champions Cup semi-final and provided an already stellar highlights reel of big moments, the 20-year-old is being touted to rip up trees down under.
The Lions - and potentially Pollock - get their first opportunity to pull on the famous red jersey when they take on Argentina in Dublin this Friday.
Pollock was joined by another England 20-year-old in the recent Lions training camp in Portugal - Asher Opoku-Fordjour - who could also yet find his way onto the tour in case of injuries.
TNT Sports sat down with 2005 Lion Ben Kay, who had some lofty comparisons to make between Pollock and some sporting England legends of the past.
"My first ever senior coach was Will Greenwood’s dad Dick," Kay began.
"He said to me when I was 18 years old playing men’s rugby ‘if you’re good enough, you’re old enough’.
"I think [Lions head coach] Andy Farrell is that same northern no nonsense, he will have watched these guys, he will have watched Henry Pollock on the biggest stage that you can get, European Cup finals and semi-finals, and said ‘if he can mix it in that environment, there’s no reason he can’t mix it in Test rugby, at that level.' The fact that he came off the bench and scored for England [on debut].
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‘He’s got everything’ – Pollock ‘staking claim’ for Lions selection with incredible solo try
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"I think that you go with stars that are peaking. He almost made himself impossible to leave out, in my opinion.
"You look at other sports, Michael Owen bursting onto the scene, being given that shot and then taking it at a World Cup, or Wayne Rooney. So I think they had to take him.
"Opoku-Fordjour maybe just hadn’t quite had enough exposure, particularly in a senior international shirt, but now because of circumstance he might very well get his shot.
"Sometimes that exuberance of youth and not quite knowing what it’s all about can be a massive help; you don’t know too much about the downsides yet."
An extra 10?
Amid intense competition for the fly-half spot, Finn Russell appears to be at the front of the queue, even more so after his shimmering display in the Gallagher Premiership final win over Leicester.
Marcus Smith and Fin Smith make up Farrell's remaining spots in that area, but Kay wonders whether movements might yet be afoot at No. 10.
"From an England perspective, I think we’re all wondering whether there’s another place left over for a 10, and who that might be," Kay said.
"Obviously Marcus Smith’s versatility – which he probably didn’t always appreciate this year, being moved to full back – has probably helped his cause, particularly with how well George Ford has been playing.
"Thoughts of whether Owen Farrell and all his Lions experience might come out, but George Ford must be knocking pretty hard on the door at the moment."
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'Magical' Ford sets up Reed to score Sale's third try
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What will Farrell try v Argentina?
With the Lions getting their first, much-anticipated outing on Friday against The Pumas, what will Farrell be looking to get out of that clash?
Kay said: "It's a massively hard first game, because Argentina are a quality outfit, and he [Farrell] won’t have had much time to gel a team together.
"So I think he’s probably just looking at some of the initial combinations, he might not even be thinking about the Test matches, but he might just be saying which ones do I want to see more of, and which ones do I think ‘that’s probably not going to work, so I’ll try them with someone else.'
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O'Driscoll and Kay select their British & Irish Lions teams - but do they agree?
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"And then I guess the difficulty with all the different players he’s going to play in the first few weeks, is how do you get a style and a game plan that - doesn’t matter who’s playing - they know how their team’s going to play for the rest of the tour. You want to get some continuity and fluidity.
"A lot of what the Lions are going to rely on is individual brilliance, but it’s about making opportunities for that individual brilliance to shine.
"That Brian O’Driscoll break through the middle [in 2001], all these brilliant Lions moments come because someone was given the platform, and the players around them knew what they had to do to get them into the right spot."
How to get over awkwardness
Kay was selected by Sir Clive Woodward for the Lions tour of New Zealand in 2005, which ended in a chastening 3-0 defeat.
The former England lock looked back on his memories of the preamble, and what the current tourists will be going through.
"Meeting for the first time, there’s a mix of huge excitement, there’s a want to fit in," Kay said.
"There are guys that you’ve only ever been enemies with, but you know that by the end of the tour you want to be coming home with a load of friendships and great memories together, so it’s a really exciting time but it’s also a little bit awkward when you first turn up.
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Henry Pollock, Andy Farrell.
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"You’re playing at the most elite level that you can get to, but some of it is taking it back to the most amateurish you can be, and just trying to gel together as a team of mates, whether that’s taking them out for a few beers – maybe not yet, but certainly when they first land in Australia, just bonding that team together in any way you can is the crucial part."
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