RugbyRebels

Who gives a fuck about his antics when he is that good a player? How many players (never mind forwards) could do that one-handed pick-up flat-out and go on to score? Is it an English trait to find fault with such quality? Maybe everyone should be happier with ordinary. After all, we've won fuck-all for 22 years.

Who gives a fuck about his antics when he is that good a player? How many players (never mind forwards) could do that one-handed pick-up flat-out and go on to score? Is it an English trait to find fault with such quality? Maybe everyone should be happier with ordinary. After all, we've won fuck-all for 22 years.

Who gives a fuck about his antics when he is that good a player? How many players (never mind forwards) could do that one-handed pick-up flat-out and go on to score? Is it an English trait to find fault with such quality? Maybe everyone should be happier with ordinary. After all, we've won fuck-all for 22 years.

Who gives a fuck about his antics when he is that good a player? How many players (never mind forwards) could do that one-handed pick-up flat-out and go on to score? Is it an English trait to find fault with such quality? Maybe everyone should be happier with ordinary. After all, we've won fuck-all for 22 years.

Who gives a fuck about his antics when he is that good a player? How many players (never mind forwards) could do that one-handed pick-up flat-out and go on to score? Is it an English trait to find fault with such quality? Maybe everyone should be happier with ordinary. After all, we've won fuck-all for 22 years.

Who gives a fuck about his antics when he is that good a player? How many players (never mind forwards) could do that one-handed pick-up flat-out and go on to score? Is it an English trait to find fault with such quality? Maybe everyone should be happier with ordinary. After all, we've won fuck-all for 22 years.

Help, Puja. I only tried to post once, honestly!!!!

Lol. I assume that was an accident and not just a mark of how strongly you feel about this.

I don’t fully understand your whole angle about being overly negative and ‘finding fault’, it’s just recognising that be almost biffed it. I’m not sending him social media abuse, I’m just acknowledging what happened. Should we just pretend we didn’t notice?

Fantastic skill, I just wish I trusted him to focus 100% on getting the job done in those moments.

Oakboy wrote: ↑Mon Nov 03, 2025 9:41 pm Help, Puja. I only tried to post once, honestly!!!!

I have no clue why the board suddenly decided you needed moderator approval out of nowhere! Even weirder is that it's only done it for one post and nothing else?

I'll keep an eye out for if it happens again

Mod

Pollock's got a lot of talent. He's young, bound to be a bit of bravado and quite frankly you need plenty of self confidence to be the next bright young thing in English rugby because the media will try and tear you down at some point. He's obviously got some lessons to learn but he's learning them whilst still delivering. I'm more annoyed about the two lazy offsides and the yellow card at the end to be honest, just cause the game is done you can't be switching off like that.

Easier to iron out a bit of wandering focus than it is to teach all the other skills and competitive nature he has.

FKAS wrote: ↑Mon Nov 03, 2025 10:05 pm Pollock's got a lot of talent. He's young, bound to be a bit of bravado and quite frankly you need plenty of self confidence to be the next bright young thing in English rugby because the media will try and tear you down at some point. He's obviously got some lessons to learn but he's learning them whilst still delivering. I'm more annoyed about the two lazy offsides and the yellow card at the end to be honest, just cause the game is done you can't be switching off like that.

Easier to iron out a bit of wandering focus than it is to teach all the other skills and competitive nature he has.

Yes. Stating the obvious, you can only start with the skill. Provided doing so does not curb his enthusiasm, Pollock's mannerisms/behaviour can be adjusted. Trying to get his level of skill out of lesser (but 'well-behaved') players needs some sort of divine magic. I simply don't understand spectators/pundits who react only to his fringe antics. He is arguably our most gifted player. Let's support him not knock him.

I find Earl and Farrell's behavioural signals more annoying.

Oakboy wrote: ↑Tue Nov 04, 2025 8:18 am

FKAS wrote: ↑Mon Nov 03, 2025 10:05 pm Pollock's got a lot of talent. He's young, bound to be a bit of bravado and quite frankly you need plenty of self confidence to be the next bright young thing in English rugby because the media will try and tear you down at some point. He's obviously got some lessons to learn but he's learning them whilst still delivering. I'm more annoyed about the two lazy offsides and the yellow card at the end to be honest, just cause the game is done you can't be switching off like that.

Easier to iron out a bit of wandering focus than it is to teach all the other skills and competitive nature he has.

Yes. Stating the obvious, you can only start with the skill. Provided doing so does not curb his enthusiasm, Pollock's mannerisms/behaviour can be adjusted. Trying to get his level of skill out of lesser (but 'well-behaved') players needs some sort of divine magic. I simply don't understand spectators/pundits who react only to his fringe antics. He is arguably our most gifted player. Let's support him not knock him.

I find Earl and Farrell's behavioural signals more annoying.

Don't think I have seen any posts that react ONLY to his antics.
Even those who are not that fond of showboating or screaming at the opposition, clearly acknowledge that he is an exceptional rugby talent.
I'm sure he can grow out of it as he matures with no adverse effects on his rugby skills.

Oakboy wrote: ↑Mon Nov 03, 2025 9:34 pm Who gives a fuck about his antics when he is that good a player? How many players (never mind forwards) could do that one-handed pick-up flat-out and go on to score? Is it an English trait to find fault with such quality? Maybe everyone should be happier with ordinary. After all, we've won fuck-all for 22 years.

WTF! WTF! WTF! WTF! WTF! WTF!

Really interesting analysis of the game and tactics with a Southern Hemisphere flavour…



Unfortunately the conclusion is a lot of the mismatch was in poor Aus attack… which means we should not get ahead of how solid our new defence is.

An impressive turn of pace for a touch judge!

francoisfou wrote: ↑Fri Nov 07, 2025 10:18 am

An impressive turn of pace for a touch judge!

Fair play to the lad!

Puja

Read the following from Mathew Syed and it made me think of the Pollock discussion on this thread:

Is our hatred of ‘arrogant’ stars holding us back?
Matthew Syed


In a piece about Jude Bellingham, my colleague Owen Slot shared the perspective of that excellent former Chelsea and Netherlands player, now coach, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (he of the mighty thighs). The subject of discussion was the perceived cockiness of Bellingham, the aura he gives of his own sense of destiny, the gesticulations directed at his team-mates when they do not live up to his lofty expectations.

Some have called Bellingham arrogant, others toxic, but Hasselbaink turned the lens on the culture of Bellingham’s nation. “That is the problem a little bit with the English,” he said. “You are allowed to be good but you are not allowed to have self-belief. And selfbelief is sometimes taken as being arrogant. Are we allowed to say, ‘I am f***ing good? I am the best since sliced bread?’ Are we allowed to say that? No ...”

I have to confess to feeling the tug of Hasselbaink’s comments. We, the English and perhaps the wider UK, do not like arrogance; in fact, we do not even like exaggerated selfconfidence.

Muhammad Ali was even more unpopular here than in his native United States when first bursting on the scene. It took a very long time for fans to warm to Cristiano Ronaldo.

Kevin Pietersen alienated many with his swagger. Jack Grealish still gets it in the neck for giving the impression that he thinks he is God’s gift. I could go on. Eric Cantona was a figure of ridicule outside Manchester for that upturned collar, at least until opposition teams realised he was a bona fide footballing genius. Or take a personal anecdote: I remember talking to the Class of ’92 as a group in a meeting room in Manchester and there was some rather selfcongratulatory (and entirely justified) talk about how brilliant they were, how amazing to have played in the youth team together, etc. Then Phil Neville suddenly said: “Obviously, we would never say any of this publicly.”

But why not? Why are the British public so hostile to any hint of showiness? I remember talking to Ronnie O’Sullivan, who can switch from right to left-handed mid-frame and rattle off a 50 clearance in the time it takes to boil a kettle. “In America, they would absolutely love it,” he said. “Over here, people react differently.” He is right, isn’t he? I remember being at the Crucible when the Rocket switched hands like a conjurer before nailing a lightning red along the cushion. Amid muted applause, I heard a northern accent three or four seats along muttering: “Cocky git.”

You will have noticed that this column has ranged somewhat beyond Bellingham but the more I think about it, the more I wonder if this antipathy towards self-confidence and success might be one of our most severe cultural weaknesses. In America, they celebrate success, eulogise it, lionise it. People over there do not hide their light under a bushel but proclaim it — better to inspire others to pick up the baton (to mix metaphors) and run faster. Might this bracing attitude to success, this willingness to exude confidence — yes, even arrogance — be one reason why America is still growing so fast? I wrote a piece about David Beckham last week on the occasion of his knighthood. For what it is worth, I despair of the honours system — often corrupt, venal and cringeworthy — but not in Beckham’s case. I used the peg to celebrate the success of a brilliant footballer who has gone on to impressive things as an entrepreneur. I talked of his ferocious work ethic (he was still training an hour longer than his team-mates in his final season at Paris Saint- Germain) and how he had learnt it from his brilliant parents: Ted, a gas fitter, and Sandra, a hairdresser.

But this story outraged a fair number of readers. Beckham was too much into selfpromotion, they said. He had “sought” a knighthood, which would not do at all. He did copious charity work only to cultivate his image.

As I read some of these comments (it was the judgmental tone that struck me most) I could not help thinking of “tall poppy syndrome”, where people perceived to be too successful or ambitious are resented, criticised or cut down to size. Perhaps it reflects a kind of status anxiety or collective insecurity, the sense that the success of others are a threat to one’s selfworth.

If so, let me suggest that this nation might breathe a huge sigh of relief if we could let this envy go, if we could free ourselves from its stifling and stultifying influence. Success is not like a pie, where if one person gets a slice there is less for everyone else. The miracle of the universe is that it is possible for one person’s success to inspire more success, and then more, creating a cascade that enlarges the pie for everyone.

To return to Bellingham, I have been consistently struck by the polarised opinions since the day he burst into our consciousness. To some he is toxic; to others he has exacting standards. To some he is arrogant; to others he is imbued with the huge selfconfidence that drives greatness. To some he demands far too much from team-mates; to others (à la Michael Jordan) he merely calls for the scale of commitment he himself exudes.

What’s the truth? I honestly cannot say: I have never met the fella so it is difficult to be definitive. But one thing I do know is that Hasselbaink is absolutely right about our attitude to success and how it can subtly hold us back. We Brits do indeed struggle with those who say, even if only with their body language: “I am f***ing good. I am the best since sliced bread.”

Maybe, rugby finds a flash-merchant extra hard to love with its comparatively recent adoption of professionalism. Amateur tradition still counts in the game here.