Oxfordshire-born England rugby star Henry Pollock has been nominated for the World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year award.
The Northampton Saints Academy graduate and flanker, who was born in Banbury, made his senior club debut for the club aged just 17 in 2022.
After a breakthrough campaign with the men in Green, Black and Gold in the 2024/25 season, where he scored 10 tries in 22 appearances, he picked up the PREM Breakthrough Player of the Year award in June 2025 and was also nominated for the Investec Champions Cup Player of the Year.
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His first senior cap came from the bench in England’s final fixture of the 2025 Six Nations, where the 20-year-old scored two tries in a 14-68 victory in Cardiff, and after just 30 minutes of Test rugby to his name, he was selected as the youngest player on the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour to Australia.
Pollock has shone on both the international and domestic stage and is joined by fellow nominees New Zealand’s Fabian Holland, South Africa’s Ethan Hooker and Australia’s Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii on the shortlist for the award.
Each nominee has been voted by the World Rugby Awards panel, comprised of former legends of the game, Jacques Burger, Fiona Coghlan, Victor Matfield, Drew Mitchell, Ugo Monye, Sergio Parisse, Kieran Read and Blaine Scully.
The recipients of the World Rugby Awards 2025 men’s categories will be revealed on Saturday, November 22.
Following last weekend's England 33-19 win over New Zealand last weekend, former England scrum half and 2003 Rugby World Cup winner Matt Dawson praised Pollock's mentality.
He told the BBC: "Pollock is bringing people on his journey with his mindset.
"Ellis Genge, Will Stuart and Tom Curry are not known for their light-heartedness on the field, but they all had a beaming smile before coming on.
"It felt like a "this is our moment" type of vibe. They are all turning into Pollock - not completely, of course - but adopting elements of his approach.
"The bench are bringing all the energy and impact, with Pollock leading the charge, and everyone gets swept up into this vortex that he creates."
Pollock has been named on the bench for England's final match of the autumn at home to Argentina on Sunday.
England are chasing an 11th consecutive victory and an autumn clean sweep having dispatched Australia, Fiji and New Zealand already this month.
Argentina will arrive at Twickenham on the back of a 33-24 win over Scotland in Edinburgh that was secured after fighting back from a 21-0 deficit.
“Last weekend gave us plenty to build on and now the challenge is to push our performance further,” head coach Steve Borthwick said.
“Argentina play with emotion and physicality and they’ve shown they can beat the best in world rugby this year. We know how dangerous they can be and we are preparing for a fiercely-contested Test match."
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