Jake White: Henry Pollock reminds me of many Springbok legends

I was watching some Test cricket the other day, specifically the England versus New Zealand. My interest was piqued because ever since the Ashes implosion, there have been growing calls for changes. Honestly, I can see certain parallels with England rugby.

When ‘Bazball’ was born, English cricket had a very successful period. The fans regaled at this innovative way of playing the game and then suddenly, they lost the Midas touch and now they’ve lost seven out of their last 11 Tests to leave English cricket in a state of uncertainty, only compounded by (Ben) Stokes walking away from international cricket mid-Test. Consequently, the tide is turning. The fans are now asking, ‘what are we going to do now? We either change or spiral into mediocrity.’

Of course, the English rugby team went on a year-long winning run of 11 Tests and then their magic touch left them and they lost four consecutive games out of five and with it, their momentum. The subsequent review concluded that England Rugby had faith in Steve Borthwick and he’s stayed put, but in the eyes of many, he still has much to prove. Leading into this weekend’s South Africa Test, captain Maro Itoje hasn’t toured – albeit, unlike Stokes, I fully expect him to return after a summer’s rest – but the correlation between the two sports is uncanny.

So, what do England do next? If you ask me, there needs to be a definite swing away from what they’d been doing up to the French game in the Six Nations in order for them to get success. As Einstein loosely said, if you keep doing the same thing over and over again, you can’t expect to get a different result.

For England to be 16 months out from a World Cup and be genuine contenders, certain things have to evolve. For one, their style has to change. Two, their mindset has to change and three, the belief in the squad has to stiffen its resolve. Finally, they need some big results away from home. Indeed, there’s a reason England fans still talk about Clive Woodward’s side in the lead-up to 2003 World Cup when they started winning against the best teams in the world, like the All Blacks and the Wallabies, in their own backyard. It’s crazy to think that was 23 years ago.

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South Africa

08:40

4 Jul 26

England

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While the ECB do some chin-stroking and look for their new captain, I remember watching Michael Atherton saying England have been spluttering along and need a re-think and the rugby team are the same. They’ve had good periods and bad periods, where it always feels like they’re always on the cusp of cracking rugby’s Enigma code, until they lose focus.

Now the likelihood or odds of England starting that winning run at altitude in Johannesburg at Ellis Park are slim, if you look at the history books. They haven’t won a Test there since 1972, so if you take a common sense approach, you assume South Africa prevail Saturday.

What has been consistent for the past two years, however, is how Northampton have played and attacked. It’s almost Bordeaux and Toulouse-esque. On a quick field at Ellis Park, similar to cricket, where it’s a batsman’s pitch, you’d like to think England would try to outskill and outpace the Springboks, because one thing they won’t do is outmuscle them.

Up front, I have to give a shout-out to Bath’s Stevie Scott, who has improved Thomas du Toit no end over the last four years. If you have Beno Obano and Billy Sela, plus Charlie Ewels in the England tight-five, with Will Stuart’s injury absence, they have the foundations of a very handy pack honed at The Rec. A Northampton attack with Bath’s edge up front could be the template they need going forward.

The fact that they racked up 46 points against Les Bleus should give them hope because they didn’t get their attack going against Italy, Scotland and Ireland. If they are to copy and paste any playing style, it must come from that Test in Paris.

South Africa aren’t going to make anything easy. There’s no love lost between the teams historically, and the Springbok crowd would like nothing better than to start the Test season with a thumping victory over the men in white. Either way, it’s going to be part of an incredible day of rugby.

Don’t get me wrong, the Springboks aren’t invincible. There are 10 players over 30 in that Springboks first-XV this weekend, leaving a question mark over their endurance. Saying that, every side has something to prove. New Zealand have started afresh with a new coach. Ireland are trying to break their World Cup quarter-final hex and France are trying to break their World Cup duck. For the Boks, it’s: can they repeat the same formula for a third World Cup crusade, or are they going to have to change who they use for power and pace because it doesn’t last forever.

I know a lot has been said about him already, but we need to talk about Henry Pollock. He wasn’t in that starting team against France, which had Ben Earl, Sam Underhill and Ollie Chessum in a seriously tough back-row, but if they want to play with pace, they need his engine and explosivity around the field. He reads the game so well and finds holes. Ya, you think he’s going nowhere and suddenly he finds open field. It’s no secret he has got under many South African fans’ skin, but they do respect that the boy can play, believe me.

Some of the best players I’ve ever coached, like Bryan Habana, John Smit and Schalk Burger, made it at a young age because of their incredible belief in how good they are. They didn’t see the need to wait their turn in the pecking order, because of their confidence, not arrogance. That’s what makes them different and Pollock seems to be cut from a similar cloth.

This season is going to be very interesting because so many sides are still searching for their true identity leading to Australia 2027. Rassie has such incredible depth, so that’s his challenge, whittling it down. He picked a 46-man squad but also name-checked 17 players who were injured or not at his disposal. Sixty-three players is one heck of a wider squad. The upsides of that are that he can ringfence those players, but it does have an impact on the domestic game because you’re taking them away from the club to go for alignment camps, and the like.

I know England have long butted heads with the domestic league over how much time is spent with the national team, but you have to give credit to the SARU for giving Rassie free rein to any players. It’s a different strategy to England. Of course, you couldn’t fail to be impressed by Jack Willis’ performance in the Top 14 final, but I’m a traditionalist and think if he really wanted to play for England, then he should play his rugby in England. I respect that New Zealand and England have stuck to their guns by not allowing players to play from abroad because no player is bigger than the jersey. That’s always been the mantra of any great rugby nation. If he wants to play in the World Cup, he should come home. To play for your country, you need to sacrifice something and maybe that’s what he should consider. I’m sure he will have food for thought after watching the Boks and England go at it this Saturday. I can’t wait.