"Nothing fazes him" – Tommy Freeman was blown away by Henry Pollock's England debut

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England wing Tommy Freeman could not believe how comfortable Henry Pollock was, when the 20-year-old back row made his senior Test debut this past Saturday. Pollock exploded off the bench to a roar of support from the travelling fans, as England cruised to a 68-14 win at the Principality Stadium.

Freeman thought that Pollock took to the England men’s stage with great aplomb, and called his Northampton Saints teammate ‘unbelievable’ in how well he stepped up. There was evidently no shaking the young back row bolter, who made good on his opportunity with two second half tries against Wales.

“Oh, he’s a joke. He’s a joke. He’s unbelievable. I don’t want to big him up too much but honestly, he brings some sort of energy like you’ve never seen before for a 20 year old. I remember my first game I was shaking in the corner, all nervous. But this guy, nothing fazes him.

“I remember last night as well. He was in my room telling me about he was going to get his first try on the wing – and then he gets it. He was doing the try celebrations as well in the room, showed me what he was going to do. But that’s the type of guy he is in and fair play to him, he backs it up and he’s got a big career ahead of him.”

Pollock and Freeman briefly crossed paths during the match, as the back row replaced his Franklin’s Gardens comrade with an unorthodox shuffle of the deck from England head coach Steve Borthwick. A regular wing, Freeman was moved to outside centre for the final round of the 2025 Guinness Men’s Six Nations, after Ollie Lawrence sustained the potentially season-ending Achilles injury against Italy.

Freeman departed the Principality Stadium in wake of his debuting England teammate, with Ben Earl moving from number eight to the midfield, for the closing half hour of the match. Freeman discussed how he enjoyed his run-out in the middle of the park, in which he bagged a try in his newfound position.

“Good, I enjoyed it. Obviously, you’re popping up in different positions, different spaces, trying to get your hands on the ball as much as possible, connecting the dots a little bit more, which is always nice. But I enjoyed it a lot.”

Freeman had a stunning campaign in the 2025 Guinness Men’s Six Nations, as the wing scored in every match of the five-test tournament. You could call the accomplishment a ‘Grand Slam’ of tries, as Freeman crossed the whitewash against Ireland, France, Scotland, Italy and Wales, to put his name in the drivers seat to be an outside back in Andy Farrell’s Lions squad.

“Yeah, pretty special. I tried not to think about it too much. My parents were talking to me about it and the boys beforehand but I didn’t want to talk it out of existence. So, yeah, I was happy to get over the line.

“To be honest, I haven’t really thought about it (Lions tour). I’ve obviously got to control what I can control. I play each week and if it helps me get picked then it does. What happens, happens, at the end of the day. But it's everyone’s dream, isn’t it? It’s the pinnacle, the top of rugby. It would be a pretty magical thing.”

It was an excellent showing from England’s attacking power, as Steve Borthwick’s side dropped the hammer blow on Wales with a 10-try shut-out in Cardiff. The 68-14 defeat stands as Wales heaviest ever loss on home soil, with the losing streak extending to 17 consecutive Tests. This takes Wales to unseen lows, as no tier one nation has ever lost 17 matches in a row in the professional era.

Freeman was delighted to see how well England clicked into gear for the Cardiff clash, with skipper Maro Itoje setting the tone with a try after just two minutes. Freeman expressed how his side ‘pulled the trigger’ on Wales, in what was a famous win on the road for his side.

“It’s always special. With that accuracy, which we didn't quite have in previous games, it’s pretty awesome. We've talked each week, about the things we did well against France, and to get that win over Scotland.  But when everything just clicks and works together, that just shows that your game plan works and when we’re all on, it does have some good rewards.

“That just came from how quick we were to get set. We spoke in the week about how quickly we could get set and create options, even if we are going to kick it or create a ruck to box kick it. If we’re all behind and ready to go, at least we can pull the trigger if we need to.”

This current England team have continued to evolve upwards and on-wards, from the side that succumbed to six consecutive Test defeats to tier one nations. After a trio of losses to the All Blacks, the streak added Australia and South Africa, before the opening round of the Six Nations saw England fall to Ireland in Dublin.

However, the dam broke the following week, with the torrent of Test match success as yet proving unstoppable, as England achieved four wins on the bounce. Freeman explained what has shifted within the England camp, to move across to the winners column.

“it’s just a bit of accuracy and fight from all of us,  Those narrow defeats were so close, two of the games (Autumn Series vs New Zealand and Australia) could have either gone one way or the other.

“We’re a difficult team to beat now. We create opportunities and put ourselves up ahead in these games, and I think it’s just about staying on the front foot. I think there’s times where we let Australia back in the game and those narrow defeats with New Zealand as well. Whereas now, I think we’ve really just gone out and put our game on, trying to  do it for 80 minutes rather than letting it slip after 60. Yeah, it makes our bus journey a lot easier, I’ll tell you that.

“It’s always nice to finish (a campaign) on a win like that. We know where we want to go as a team. When we said throughout the week and the previous weeks that we’ve had obviously narrow defeats and it’s about going from a narrow defeat to a narrow win and then getting a big win like this.

“So hopefully we can carry on with that. We know with the squad and the team we’ve got we can keep pushing forward and taking big shots.  It’s all about just getting behind the ball and if we can create as many options as we can, we know we’ve got the playmakers to pick the right ones.”

EDITORS PICKS:

• Team of the Tournament: 2025 Guinness Men's Six Nations
• Four nominees announced for Six Nations Player of the Tournament
• "Be Yourself" – Henry Pollock reveals what Ellis Genge said to him upon his England debut
• "It's devastating"- Wales coach Matt Sherratt reacts to record 68-14 defeat to England 
• England's 2025 Six Nations Players Ranked From Best to Worst

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