FRANKLIN’S GARDENS — The kids jumping up and down with their cardboard homemade “Pollock can I have your boot please” signs are already aboard the bandwagon.
And the man himself – the very young man himself, we should say – justified the hype, of which there is plenty. His older acolytes in this rugby-mad town may well be saying “Pollock’s the dog’s b******s”.
It is necessary to qualify the word “regular”, as he only turned 20 in January, and had made just one Premiership appearance before this season.
Henry Pollock HAD to get involved
The @SaintsRugby rising star scores and the hosts are surely heading to the quarter-finals #InvestecChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/h7OiHASThs
Pollock had a grumble to the referee about this holding. The highly experienced Andy Brace advised him to calm down and let the officials handle it.
The Northampton tactic from the off was to go for quick tapped penalties, moving the lumpen men of Clermont around.
It’s no surprise to know he excelled at the triathlon in his teens.
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His weaving try at Sale bouncing off Tom Curry and Luke Cowan-Dickie last week – described by ex-England captain Lawrence Dallaglio in these pages as a “worldie” – embellished a rapidly growing reputation.
The Lions have tons of possible back-row choices for the Australia tour in July, and their head coach Andy Farrell has no need to develop players, but some have talked of Pollock making it by right.
Either way, it looks like they love him at Franklin’s Gardens, where the crowd is not given to simpering hero worship – respect is earned.
The home spectators cheered more of the Pollock quality bang on half-time.
Pollock’s signature headband is becoming a hit among Northampton fans (Photo: Getty)But as Moala trucked towards on the halfway line he was met face to face by Pollock who, like a pickpocket in plain sight, stripped the veteran of the ball.
A couple of phases later a panicky Clermont defence coughed up their second yellow card of the first half, and Northampton were 27-10 up at the break, and sailing into next Saturday’s quarter-final back here against the winners of Castres and Benetton Treviso.
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He resumed with swift take-and-give pass out of a tackle in the Clermont 22 although his centre team-mate Fraser Dingwall couldn’t replicate as the ball went down the line.
When Fin Smith dabbed a grubber through the Clermont defence, it was a foot race between Freeman and Pollock – and the flanker won it, and Freeman was happy to grin and bear it, as Pollock booted the ball into the stands in his signature celebration.
In the last minute, as in the first, he was still at it, with a turnover after the tackle to add to his 14 carries and 10 bursts across the gainline. At full-time, it was 46-24 to Northampton, and the new star had been excitingly at the heart of it.
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