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Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Lions trio Ellis Genge, Tommy Freeman and Henry Pollock on rugby's new rebel R360 competition - and what impact lucrative league can have on their future England careers
England and Lions star Ellis Genge has admitted the country's top players will have a big decision to make on their contractual futures if the money on offer from rugby's proposed breakaway league proves too good to turn down in years to come. But Genge and his fellow Test stars Tommy Freeman and Henry Pollock have insisted that representing Steve Borthwick 's national side remains the primary driver when it comes to their ambitions. The new rebel R360 competition - being led by ex-England World Cup winner Mike Tindall - wants to create 'generational change in rugby' by creating 12 new franchise teams made up of the best players from around the world. While plans for the new concept would retain the importance and prestige of the international game and organisers are understood to have left gaps for existing club structures to continue, it is clear R360 could prove to be a potential game changer and significantly shake-up the established order. 'I'd never want to leave England behind, but I would say 90 per cent of rugby players have to work for the rest of their lives after rugby,' said Genge. 'If they reached the echelons they have in this sport in others, I'd say they probably wouldn't. I think if the money is that lucrative, then people have decisions to make don't they? I wouldn't hold it against them.' Genge revealed he had discussed the R360 proposal with the competition's organisers but had not signed any agreement to join given he is under contract with his club Bristol. 'I don't know if it's actually got legs to get off the ground, but I think anything that stirs the pot and makes people start asking questions and think of new ideas is positive for the game,' Genge said of R360, which would involve a 16-match season that would be played in two separate windows in spring and summer. 'There is no smoke without fire. I'm glad something is happening in rugby rather than it just stagnating and everyone moaning. 'But I'm sure now people want to put money into it, everyone will moan.' MailSport understands leading figures at both the Rugby Football Union and Premiership Rugby are relaxed about R360's plans to disrupt the game, while welcoming the competition Tindall's enterprise looks likely to provide. In September last year, the two parties signed the professional game partnership - the system by which English rugby is now run. As part of the deal - which runs for the next eight years - it is stipulated that to continue to represent England in that time, players must be primarily employed by Premiership clubs. 'At some point, money probably does talk but playing for England is my main concern. You never want to jeopardise that situation,' said Northampton wing Freeman. 'If I'm out the loop of the England set-up for a number of years, then maybe it's different.' Freeman confirmed the money on offer from R360 for him to stop playing for England would have to be 'off the charts.' He added: 'Running out at Twickenham, there is no feeling like it.' Genge, Freeman and Pollock will all be part of Andy Farrell's Lions squad in Australia this summer and were winners at Tuesday night's Premiership awards evening. 'We're very focussed on playing for our country,' breakthrough player of the season Pollock said. 'As Tommy said, it would be a lot to give that up. 'I've not experienced playing multiple times for my country, so that's something I'm working towards.' Genge is set to return for Bristol for their crunch Premiership play-off clash at Bath on Friday after missing last weekend's win over Harlequins. Another England man in Tom Curry will also be fit for Sale who face Leicester in the other semi-final on Saturday.
The Guardian
03-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The Premiership team of the 2024-25 season
Santiago Carreras (Gloucester) Plenty of quality contenders – Sale's Joe Carpenter, Northampton's George Furbank and Bristol's Rich Lane – and I was also tempted to hand Alex Goode a well-deserved retirement gift. But Carreras has been an absolute joy to watch and central to Gloucester's attacking reinvention. For a snapshot check out the try he helped to start and then finished against Sale at Kingsholm in January. The prospect of him linking up with Finn Russell at Bath next season is mouthwatering. Tommy Freeman (Northampton) A season to remember for a fine player who continues to improve. There are quicker right wingers around – Saracens' Tobias Elliott, Exeter's Paul Brown-Bampoe and Leicester's Adam Radwan have all caught the eye – but none with Freeman's all-round instincts, aerial ability and deceptive strength. Fifteen tries in his past 12 games of the season for club and country is not the worst springboard into this summer's British & Irish Lions tour. Kalaveti Ravouvou (Bristol) The 26-year-old Ravouvou has featured in a variety of positions this season but has to be included somewhere on this team sheet. Eleven tries in 13 Premiership games – he missed the start of the campaign – tells only part of the story. Give him the ball and something special tends to happen, as underlined by his extraordinary back-handed offload to set up Gabriel Ibitoye for a try against Leicester in April. Pips his Bears teammate Benhard Janse Van Rensburg and Bath's sadly injured Ollie Lawrence. Seb Atkinson (Gloucester) England have been looking for young players with the skillset to fill the pivotal 12 jersey and Atkinson, still only 23, has all the necessary attributes. Strong, fit and dextrous he featured in all Gloucester's league games, contributing seven tries, and must be pushing strongly for a first Test cap on tour this summer. Suddenly, with Sale's Rekeiti Ma'asi-White and Bath's Max Ojomoh also in the frame, Steve Borthwick has intriguing options. Gabriel Ibitoye (Bristol) Yes, he makes the occasional howler. Yes, he sees things differently. But Ibitoye did not finish this season as the league's joint top scorer by accident and, with the Bears preparing to face Bath in Friday's semi-final, he is not finished yet. Almost ridiculously elusive and with an astute eye for a gap, he just needs to tighten up his defence a notch. Ollie Hassell-Collins, Cadan Murley and Arron Reed are all unlucky. George Ford (Sale Sharks) Overlooked by the British & Irish Lions but not by everyone else. While the past few seasons have had their frustrations he has been consistently influential for the Sharks this year, particularly when you dig deeper into the stats. Leaving aside the Saracens fixture in September – when he limped off after six minutes – Sale have won all but one of the other 11 league games he started. Food for thought for his former club Leicester this weekend. Tomos Williams (Gloucester) Ben Spencer has enjoyed another fine season for Bath and Alex Mitchell remains a class operator. In common with Carreras, though, it is impossible to overlook the whirring dynamo who has sparked Gloucester's fast and furious attacking rugby. Williams started all but one of the Cherry & Whites' games and his no-look basketball-style scoring pass to Seb Atkinson against Bristol was among the season's defining images. Francois van Wyk (Bath) Francois who? This is probably a record because Van Wyk has started 13 of his 17 Premiership games this season on the bench. But once he rumbles on to the field as a specialist second-half replacement there is mostly only one outcome: the Bath pack crank things up and the opposition slowly have the life squeezed out of them. Will receive nil publicity outside north-east Somerset before this week's semi-final, but a vital cog in the Bath machine nevertheless. Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks) Could easily have gone for Northampton's Curtis Langdon or Bath's Tom Dunn, neither of whom have taken a backward step all season. Nathan Jibulu, bound for Sale from Harlequins, also looks a serious prospect. But Cowan-Dickie's career revival following a worrying neck injury has been remarkable and his recent form has also helped to drive Sale's late-season challenge. Will fancy denting a few Wallabies on the Lions' tour of Australia. Sign up to The Breakdown The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewed after newsletter promotion Thomas du Toit (Bath) The Springbok rock upon which Bath's table-topping season has been based. Every top side needs an immovable object at tighthead and Bath have not lost a league match in which Du Toit has started since the season's opening weekend. Among the nominees for player of the season and must have a decent chance of claiming the top prize on behalf of unsung front-rowers everywhere. Has also helped his teammate Will Stuart raise his game to the next level. Maro Itoje (Saracens) Newly married, captain of the British & Irish Lions and now – drum roll – selected in the Breakdown's team of the season for a second consecutive year. Amid his myriad other commitments he has started 14 league games and has not been substituted by either club or country in any fixture since the end of September. That kind of durability and mental strength continues to set him apart. Ollie Chessum (Leicester) Another potentially valuable Lion-in-waiting. Chessum is becoming as much of a talisman for Leicester as Du Toit is for Bath. The Tigers have lost only one league game this season in which their 24-year-old England forward has featured; if he can stay fit he should have a long and successful Test career. His battle against Sale's bruising forwards will go a long way towards determining Saturday's semi-final. Ted Hill (Bath) What a vintage season it has been for back-row forwards. Sale's Tom Curry, Saracens' Juan Martín González, Northampton's Alex Coles (how good was he in the Champions Cup final?) and Josh Kemeny are all high-class operators but Hill, regularly overlooked by England, has been consistently outstanding. He can operate in the second row, soar high in the lineout, tackle like a tank and sprint like a back; not since the rampaging Tom Croft has a towering back-rower possessed such devastating pace. Henry Pollock (Northampton) Plenty of alternative options here as well, led by Ben Curry at Sale, Sam Underhill and Guy Pepper at Bath and Will Evans at Harlequins. But Pollock, black headband and all, has gatecrashed the England team, played in a Champions Cup final and made the Lions squad aged 20. Can also operate at No 8, where his pace off the base makes him dangerous, while his turnover ability and penchant for irritating opponents make it impossible for him to be overlooked. Tom Willis (Saracens) Made a storming start to the season and, despite also representing England and England A, possessed sufficient energy and stamina to feature in 16 of Sarries' 18 league games. Not his fault that Saracens could not quite make the playoffs but at least it gives him a slight respite before England head off on tour to Argentina and the United States. Seven tries for club and country was his best return in a season since 2020-21, when he scored eight for Wasps. This is an extract taken from our weekly rugby union email, the Breakdown. To sign up, just visit this page and follow the instructions.
Times
11-05-2025
- Sport
- Times
Andy Farrell will pick Lions centre pairing to suffocate Australia
Stage one. Who will tour? Bar the odd injury and late change of personnel, we now know the answer to that. The more significant question, however, is: 'How?' How will the British & Irish Lions — brought together once every four years — play? It will dictate the nature of selection come the Test matches. Let's look to the centres for an answer. Elliot Daly is blessed with the skills to shine at outside centre, wing or full back. He's wonderfully versatile but it would be a surprise to see him start in the No13 shirt. And then there's Tommy Freeman. The Northampton Saints right wing showed he has potential to influence games from the midfield when he scored his solo try against Wales, but
Times
09-05-2025
- Sport
- Times
Henry Pollock's rise makes him ‘Luke Littler' of rugby
Northampton Saints have provided four members of the British & Irish Lions squad — second only to Leinster and more than Wales — each with their own impressive story. However, none are quite so remarkable as that of Henry Pollock, whose unprecedented breakthrough season has now led to him being dubbed the Luke Littler of rugby. Tommy Freeman, the Saints and England wing, earned Lions selection after a stunning run of 15 tries in ten games since the start of the Six Nations, including a hat-trick against Leinster in the Champions Cup semi-final last weekend. That game in Dublin cemented Andy Farrell's thoughts about the Saints contingent. Fin Smith outplayed Sam Prendergast, his opposite number at fly half, to become a Lion after only four
The Guardian
09-05-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Pollock a proud Lion after ‘nailing it' for Northampton and England
These are good times at Franklin's Gardens. Five days after the squad celebrated one of the great victories against Leinster, four of them were picked by the British & Irish Lions. The atmosphere around the old ground has been electric ever since. And while you would expect the quartet, Fin Smith, Henry Pollock, Tommy Freeman, and Alex Mitchell, to be overjoyed, what's more telling is how happy everyone else at the club seems to be on their behalf. The video of the team celebrating the news has already gone viral, and it turns out that on the night after the squad announcement, Fraser Dingwall had them all around to his house for a celebration dinner. Dingwall, of course, had an outside shot at making the Lions squad himself, but swallowed whatever disappointment he felt after being left out and opened a couple of bottles of champagne for the occasion. They're a young bunch, Mitchell is 26, Freeman 24, Smith 22, Pollock 20 – between them their Lions memories don't go back much further than the last tour to Australia back in 2013 – and have come up together. 'It's so special to do it with three of your best mates,' says Pollock, who was playing junior rugby this time last year, and, as Mitchell says, struggling to break into the Saints' first team back at the start of this season. Pollock says he only really started thinking about the possibility of making the tour in the spring, when he made his England debut, then scored a spectacular try against Sale in the Premiership. Pollock's utterly irrepressible; he has risen through the sport like one of those champagne corks Dingwall was firing on Thursday night. 'He's been fantastic, hasn't he?' says Mitchell. 'When he came through the academy last year, he had everything there, the energy, the talent, the mindset, so we knew he was going to be a quality player, but we just didn't know how soon it was going to be.' Mitchell compares him to darts' Luke Littler. 'A lot of boys, when they come into the system, tend to overthink things, but Henry is just himself, he gives it his all, and he's full of heart, and I think that's what people love to see.' 'He's just nailing it, isn't he?' Freeman says. 'He's unbelievable, just a hell of a character. You just want to give him stick, but you can't until he plays crap,' and they're all still waiting for him to do that. 'I just hope he continues doing his thing and strutting about the way he does. I do think rugby needs characters, it needs people to stoke interest.' Of course Freeman is right behind him. He has been on a hell of a run himself, after scoring a try in every single round of the Six Nations, which put him in prime contention for a spot in the squad, and then rattled off a hat-trick in that semi-final against Leinster for good measure. 'I was just trying to go about each week and try and ignore it all as much as I could,' Freeman says. 'There were squads coming out with my name on it and squads that were coming out without it, so I was just trying to completely ignore it. And then when you sat down in that room for 30 minutes and you just start doubting yourself and questioning everything. You just never know until your name comes up.' Sign up to The Breakdown The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewed after newsletter promotion Mitchell was so nervous that he wasn't even sure he wanted to watch the announcement with his teammates, 'a few of us were like: 'Should we watch it at home?' But it was awesome having everyone there, an amazing experience.' Saints play Exeter this Sunday, but all four of them have been given the weekend off. They need it given how emotionally exhausting the last few days must have been. Mitchell says he was in bed by nine o'clock after leaving Dingwall's little party. 'I was shattered, the semi-final was hugely emotional, and then there were a lot of nerves on Wednesday and on Thursday.' And besides, they have a run of big fixtures coming up, with their home game against Saracens on 17 May leading into the final against Bordeaux-Begles a week later. The last time Saints had four players in the Lions was back in 1997 and this squad have a chance to do what that one went on to in 2000, and win the Champions Cup. Beyond that, of course, there's the thought of that first Lions match against Argentina in Dublin on 20 June and the thought of all the fun and glory.
