Archive December 4, 2025

Henry Pollock, England’s 20-year-old back row player, is a “genuinely fascinating” character, according to Jamie George, who calls him a “truly fascinating” character.

Pollock made his England debut with two tries, appearing in the Champions Cup final, and being selected for the British and Irish Lions during a remarkable campaign last year that started on the bench for Northampton and ended with two tries.

With his lip-licking face-down of New Zealand’s haka and his participation in a celebratory TikTok dance last month just the latest in a string of viral moments, his on-pitch energy, exuberant celebrations, and unabashed confidence have made him a game’s star.

As part of a running joke between the two during this summer’s tour of Australia, Pollock’s Saints team-mate Fin Smith revealed on Wednesday that Pollock had sent images of Sexton crying after Ireland was knocked out of the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

Smith told the Saints Show that “Pollock and I had the funniest relationship with [Sexton] ever,” adding that “we just took the mick out of him the entire time.”

“Johnny was fantastic and had a good time with us as well,” he said.

Henry is unique because “I have never met anyone like him,” George said in Pollock’s Rugby Union Weekly.

He is an energy ball unlike anything I’ve ever seen, and he is unapologetically and completely self-assured.

He seems to have a crazy confidence. The 19-year-old child is in the room when he enters and tries to rule everything. It is insane.

In earlier England regimes, Pollock might have been able to express his personality freely, but George is unsure.

Former England players have voiced their disapproval of Eddie Jones, who led them until 2022. Danny Care, a retired scrum-half, claims that despite Jones producing results, the Australian oversaw a “toxic environment” with players and staff members who were constantly afraid to cross the line.

George questioned whether Pollock would have fit in in the past, adding, “I don’t know.”

Steve Borthwick, the current head coach, is a very clever bloke.

He may be having quiet conversations with Henry occasionally, but I really enjoy spending time with you at camp and feeling like you could be yourself.

“Henry is a hilarious bloke who we laugh at a lot, but there are obviously limits to some things you can do.

When we were in camp, I would always want to go back to my room or whenever I had the chance to go home, which is really not what I’ve been through in England.

George thinks that England’s friendly, welcoming environment is comparable to Saracens’ youth days.

During his time with Saracens, George has won three Champion Cups and six domestic titles.

The north London side, who were fired from the Championship in 2020 for breaking the salary cap, has concentrated on creating the best dressing room possible in the belief that performance is delivered.

At Saracens, England’s three most recent captains, the incumbent Maro Itoje and his predecessors, George himself and Owen Farrell, as well as Borthwick, his assistant Richard Wigglesworth and performance head Phil Morrow, all worked there.

“With England, it’s about spending time with each other, enjoying each other’s company, and pushing really hard on the field,” George said.

With only more than two weeks left, Anthony Joshua is on weight for his heavyweight bout with Jake Paul.

On December 19th, the British boxer and YouTuber square off in a six-round fight in Miami.

Joshua, 36, is unable to compete in weights greater than 17st 7lbs (111 kg).

Joshua posted a video of himself on the scales who claimed to be 110 kg and on track to lose it quickly on social media.

They must have forgotten, they must have. Joshua said, “I’m used to dealing with big weights and scales.”

The weight gap is a hot topic because Joshua is a two-time heavyweight world champion and Paul, 28, mostly practices at cruiserweight for the majority of his boxing career.

Before agreeing to weigh in at 17st 7lb (111kg), Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn claimed Paul’s team wanted the Watford fighter even lighter.

Heavyweights have a tradition of not cutting any weight. For his fight against Mike Tyson last year, Paul weighed 16st 3lbs (103 kg).

The Paul-Anthony fight night main event will kick off with the featherweight fight between American Olympian Jahmal Harvey and Kevin Cervantes.

The final fight on the main card, which will feature four fights, is anticipated to be the six-round contest.

When Harvey, 23, takes on Cervantes, a fellow unbeaten prospect, in his second professional fight.

The co-main event features Alycia Baumgardner’s super-featherweight world title defenses against Leila Beaudoin.

After vacating her WBC belt earlier this year in protest of the sanctioning bodies’ refusal to provide 12 three-minute rounds for women’s bouts, the American is now defending her WBO, WBA, and IBF titles.

The main event also features a boxing match between Tyron Woodley and Anderson Silva, who was formerly a UFC rival.

Silva was scheduled to fight him in a six-round cruiserweight bout, but Woodley was forced to withdraw due to an injury.

The preliminary card features two world title fights, with Yokasta Valle and Yadira Bustillos contesting the WBC strawweight belt while Cherneka Johnson fights Amanda Galle to defend her undisputed bantamweight title.

Main card for Paul v. Joshua on December 20 at 1:00 GMT.

preliminary card for Paul v. Joshua on December 19 at 21:45 p.m. et.

What relief! You can almost touch it because it is so tangible.

It’s a relief that Joe Root has reached the Test century in Australia after 12 years and 30 attempts.

I’m relieved to know that England still has a chance to win this Ashes series.

I’m relieved that Matthew Hayden won’t be strutting his cowboy hat around the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

A fully clothed Hayden, the son of Queensland, took the ovation of his home crowd on the opening day of the second Test in Brisbane.

Should Root be the floodlight, or is it the last one? – again providing what his nation and his team needed.

English Ashes dreams come to an end before they begin at the Gabba. With only three games remaining, England had a real chance to win the series 5-2 and 211-6.

Regardless of the outcome, Root managed to maintain his calmness on Vulture Street.

The ticker was toyed with and put the emotions to the test. From hopelessness and optimism to complete aversion to Mitchell Starc, the new England bogeyman.

There was a longing for Root to finally fill one of his few CV gaps, adored not only for his runs but also for everything he has given to the England cap and for his downright decency as a person.

Root has argued that a personal achievement would be insignificant if England didn’t win the Ashes. He’s correct, of course, but England are more likely to regain the urn the more runs Root runs.

His 135 and counting on this occasion gives England a run for its first win in Australia since 2011 and his first win in a day-nighter since 1986.

Since his first test appearance in 2013/14, Root has only won 16 games.

In that case, he was the prodigy in a team that collapsed, and his Test debut appearance in Sydney was the only other loss of his career.

After batting in 43-degree heat at the end of a 4-0 series defeat, Root was replaced as captain and back at the same ground four years later.

Four more years later, Root was in the hospital once more after suffering a series of unmentionable injuries during the day-night Test in Adelaide.

The end of Root’s captaincy came with that 2021-22 series, another 4-0 defeat over which Root presided. He had to watch as Covid restrictions suffocated his team.

Root’s most recent Ashes series appearance is probably in Australia. England will be there for the 150th anniversary test in 15 months, but Root will be almost 39 when the urn is contested again.

No visiting top-order batter had played as many innings as Root did before the ominous Thursday in Brisbane, which was the first time an Australian bat had recorded a century.

Australians demand respect from the opposing player when they win against Australia.

Root’s former coach at Yorkshire and his host at an Adelaide academy, Darren Lehmann, said he would not place him among the “all-time greats,” but three-figure Australian success stories remained elusive.

Because there wasn’t enough Australians in Australia when Root arrived in Perth last month, the West Australian newspaper splashed him across the front page with the headline “Average Joe.”

Root claimed that even he looked enraged after England’s terrible first-test defeat in Perth almost two weeks ago because he was not thinking about trying to get 100 in this nation. His lowest Test run total in three years was eight runs.

Root was given the task of preventing yet another England implosion when he arrived in Brisbane amid the wreckage of two wickets in the first fifteen balls of the match.

His third ball, which evaded the grasp of a diving Steve Smith at second slip, could have sent him home. It might serve as a reminder of how Smith’s run-scoring record will always be out of reach. Root hardly ever makes a mistake there.

Root barely scored through the covers and largely dissipated any desire to dab the ball behind square on the offside, largely because of England mistakes in Perth and his own problems in Australia.

The ‘V’ down the ground, which is the highest percentage in any of Root’s 16 centuries away from home, accounts for 27% of his first 100 runs, knowing the value of a straight bat on a bouncy surface.

The gears were changed, and the change up, down, and down, recognizing the importance of persevering through this challenging time of transition.

Root’s first 61 runs involved only 94 deliveries before his next 39, which included 88. He once crossed the line 18 times between boundaries. In his subsequent 50 runs, he attacked less frequently and made fewer false shots.

Root cut loose after he reached the three-figure mark, and Jofra Archer is the ideal partner for a party. Archer’s 32 not out is his highest Test score and a sign of a batting prowess that has sat dormant throughout his staccato international career.

There were plenty of supporting cast members to provide the subplots if Root was the star of the Gabba’s opening show.

Root should ask himself why he bats like a glorified slogger and examine his thirst for runs.

Brook is risking a missed chance to make a mark in the biggest series of all because she has all the talent in the world. Just as Twilight arrived, his unfathomable chase of Starc’s second delivery of a new spell was a dereliction of duty.

Brook has been chosen to lead England as the next captain, but he is currently batting like a man who can’t possibly be trusted to do so.

Given that Starc has a better career record than his fellow left-armer, comparing him to Mitchell Johnson might seem insulting.

However, if Johnson continues on his current path of destruction, Starc may put him in trouble with it. He will always have a place in English nightmares. Starc already has 16 wickets in the series, and most of it was a one-man attack on Thursday.

How different would have been if Australia had chosen Nathan Lyon? Off-spinner Lyon was standing on the edge of the field and discussing how hacked off he is to be ignored in the bizarre situation.

Former club team-mates Lyon and Root in Adelaide, they go back a long. Root taught Lyon to bat, and Lyon assisted with Root’s off-spin, according to Lyon. They later agreed to coach one another.

Only one of them has the power to influence this Test, which Root may already be able to do.