Henry Pollock and Marcus Smith among 5 England stars targeted for Olympics

Henry Pollock and Marcus Smith are among the five England stars that RugbyPass can reveal have been targeted to represent Great Britain in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics sevens tournament.

Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn let the cat out of the bag earlier this week when he shared an Instagram Story of Pollock diving from a yacht in the South of France, saying Pollock “needs to win the Olympics and the World Cup.”

The pair have formed a close bond since the Northampton Saints and England star joined the Matchroom Talent Agency earlier in the year, and an appearance in the United States in two years’ time is very much on the cards.

Great Britain won silver at Rio 2016 and lost the bronze-medal match to Argentina in Tokyo five years later, after the Games were postponed a year because of COVID, then failed to qualify for the 2024 Games after losing to South Africa in the repechage final.

But they are keen to follow the lead of France, who won gold at the Stade de France two years ago after their superstar scrum-half Antoine Dupont made the surprise switch to sevens for the home-based Games.

While the French could unleash the running power of Louis Bielle-Biarrey in LA – who is keen to follow in Dupont’s footsteps – Great Britain, keen not to be left behind, could also field Tommy Freeman, Henry Arundell and Noah Caluori, as well as Smith and Pollock.

All five are having conversations about it, and some are even having release clauses for the Games written into new contracts that are being negotiated or have already been negotiated by some of the players being targeted, such is the allure of the Olympics.

It is not the first time that England’s big names have been touted for the Olympics. Before the 2024 Games, future Lions skipper Maro Itoje was allegedly a target ahead of the qualification tournament, but it turned out to be a false alarm.