England U20 boss' 'brutally honest' message to next gen after Henry Pollock's rise

England U20 head coach Mark Mapletoft has described British and Irish Lions flanker Henry Pollock as a role model for the next generation of players coming through, but has warned any aspiring flankers of the competition they face with England’s burgeoning crop of young back-rows.

This time last year, the Northampton Saints and England flanker was preparing for England’s World Rugby U20 Championship campaign, which they came home victors.  Just 12 months on, the 20-year-old has already made an appearance for the Lions against Argentina ahead of a tour in which he is tipped to make the Test team.

While this meteoric rise over the past year – where the flanker started the Six Nations playing for the U20s and finished it scoring two tries for Steve Borthwick’s side – has been well documented, Mapletoft has seen almost every step of his journey into Andy Farrell’s squad.

After recently naming his England squad that will defend their world crown in Italy over the coming month, Mapletoft reflected on the rise a handful of his protégés have made over the past few seasons to make senior appearances, saying that is the primary objective of age-grade rugby.

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“I remember listening to the under-18s – they were actually running an under-17s camp – and literally three years ago to the day, Henry was in that space. There’s a picture of him down at Dings Crusaders after we played a game and you fast forward three years and this guy’s picked for the Lions,” said Mapletoft, whose England side begin their title defence against Scotland U20 on Sunday.

“To have someone actually selected on merit from the under-20s to play in the actual Six Nations for the seniors, I don’t think has happened before. I think we’ve had lads go on this Argentina tour, but I don’t think anyone’s played on merit in the Six Nations. It’s a great achievement, he’s a terrific bloke and an unbelievable player and also an inspiration.

“He’s risen to every challenge this year. It’s an unbelievable achievement to be picked on merit for England in the Six Nations, but to then go on and actually be selected for the Lions while still being under 20 is, for me, what the programme is about. It’s seeing Henry, it’s seeing Asher [Opoku-Fordjour], it’s seeing Chandler [Cunningham-South], those guys going up and getting capped and hopefully more and more can do so over the next three to five years.”

Pollock provides plenty of inspiration to those competing in Italy that their progress to the highest echelons of the game needn’t necessarily be a protracted process.

While his exploits on the pitch have helped Pollock climb the ranks for club and country this season, it is his brash attitude that has helped him quickly establish himself as one of European rugby’s most notorious personalities at such a young age. This, Mapletoft believes, also gives inspiration to the ‘TikTok generation’ below the current crop of U20 stars.

Whether it’s his try-scoring celebrations, his pumped-up sideline antics or his confrontational style, almost every match he has played in during his blossoming career to date has been marked by a moment where the rookie has stolen the limelight. Aided by social media, Pollock’s former coach feels he has quickly established himself as a role model and an inspiration for the generation below him, as they have “the opportunity to connect and see what people are doing and how much fun they’re having doing it.”

Mapletoft was also quick to add that, alongside the incumbent England back-rows, the latest group to break into the set-up only shows how tough it will be for any aspiring teenagers, saying they will need to be “super, super good.”

“To have role models in that space is inspirational for the next generation of players,” he said. “If we’re being brutally honest, the next openside flanker coming through, who might be 14 or 15 now, and he looks and he sees the Currys at 27, Ben Earl at 27, Henry at 20, Guy Pepper at 22, they’re going to be super good, super, super good, better than good to even get into that space. Because by the time they get to 22, those other players are going to be in the physical prime of their lives.”

While Pollock’s behaviour may not have won everyone over, not least Bordeaux-Begles’ players, Mapletoft added what value having an “authentic” character like the flanker brings to a squad.

“Henry Pollock just brought so much energy to this group as a player,” he said. “I’m so pleased that you’re still seeing that as he progresses up into the first team at Saints and the England side and hopefully we see that with the Lions in the summer. Being authentic is a critical component of being a human being, let alone a rugby player.”