Henry Pollock branded 'public enemy number one' in South Africa

England star Henry Pollock is being backed by Steve Borthwick to come out smiling if targeted by South Africa’s giant forwards in Saturday’s Ellis Park collision.

Pollock is the England player Springbok fans love to hate and is happy to play the pantomime villain after departing for the July tour with an Instagram post saying “See you soon” followed by a South African flag and a drop of blood emoji.

Apart from being trolled by the world champions’ supporters online and the centre of attention amongst local media, the headline-grabbing 21-year-old has also been criticised by former players with Schalk Burger calling him a “TikTok dancer who plays a bit of rugby”.

He was even told by a passerby at England’s team hotel in Johannesburg that he is seen in South Africa as “public enemy number one”.

The expectation is that he will receive a brutal welcoming party from the home pack when he steps off the bench, but Borthwick knows from having seen him shrug off provocation by French teams when on Northampton duty that he will rise to the occasion.

England head coach Borthwick said: “Over the last couple of years as Henry Pollock has emerged he’s faced challenges, especially in European rugby.

“Teams see what he gives to his own team and they want to try and nullify that. I’ve seen that over and over, yet Henry Pollock just always seems to shine and thrive – with a smile on his face.

“We want more personalities like that. We want more people playing rugby in that way, smiling like that. He’s a wonderful character and we love having him in our squad.”

Pollock’s Northampton skipper George Furbank, who makes his first England appearance since November 2024 after overcoming a series of injuries, revealed that Pollock’s reputation even extends to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Furbank said: “Every time we’ve spoken about the opposition hating him, he seems to go out and perform. He seems to get better and better the bigger the stage.

“I genuinely think it doesn’t actually bother him. I don’t know how because if that was me, I would be a little bit different.

“We had one person come up to him in the hotel and say ‘South Africans are coming for you’.

“It was actually a Congolese guy who had just finished watching the football and he came up to him and said ‘you’re public enemy number one!’.”

Borthwick delayed naming his team until Thursday because of sickness and a number of fitness issues, but the 23 to take on the Springboks provided few surprises, with the big calls taking place behind the scrum.

Jack van Poortvliet edges Alex Mitchell and Ben Spencer to start at scrum-half, partnering Fin Smith at half-back, while the experiment of playing Tommy Freeman at outside continues even though his rookie midfield partnership with Seb Atkinson takes on the formidable Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel.

Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Cadan Murley fill the wings and Borthwick revealed Ollie Chessum is set to captain England if Jamie George leaves the field early.