Henry Pollock is unlikely to start against Japan on the wing after his two-try showing against Australia, with Steve Borthwick saying Pollock is far more likely to be used in the back-row from the outset against Japan on Saturday.
Pollock played the second half of England's 43-25 victory over Australia on Sunday on the wing. He is usually found in the back-row, but England have been testing his versatility and when Immanuel Feyi-Waboso was forced off at half time, Borthwick turned to Pollock to fill the void.
Despite the unfamiliar position, Pollock slotted straight in and scored two second-half tries and came close to a third. Post-match, Pollock said of playing on the wing: "It's fun. I enjoy it. It's the kind of challenge I like to do -- to put myself out of my comfort zone and today was definitely that."
Using Pollock as a hybrid player was road-tested early last week ahead of the Australia Test. Pollock said he did "a bit" of training on the wing during the week leading up to the Wallabies -- later revealing that was about 20 minutes, with the rest of the time spent in the familiarity of the forwards.
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But despite his lack of game time there, Pollock looked at home on the flank, and he was helped by his Northampton Saints teammate Tommy Freeman.
"He'd be on the left sometimes and I'd be on the right. I was trying to make my job as easy as possible and Freemo did a great job in that," Pollock said.
"I wasn't really preparing to play on the wing but it was in the back of my mind that it could potentially happen. You've always got to prepare for the worst ...I enjoyed it. It was something new, something different. I like a new challenge, so it was fun."
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Borthwick was impressed by Pollock's run out there, but though he'd consider him as an option on the wing in the future, ahead of next weekend he's more likely to feature in the back-row. "I'll probably be unlikely to do that," Borthwick said on the possibility of Pollock starting on the wing against Japan. "The reason being, and things can change very quickly, Ben Curry I thought played really well.
"He was only back a couple of weeks, and that was a big step, playing Test rugby. Right now it would be unlikely that I would start Ben Curry next weekend, but I want a full assessment.
"It's not that I'm refraining from playing [Pollock] on the wing, I think he might be needed in the back row."
England are without Seb Atkinson, George Furbank and Feyi-Waboso for the Test against Japan on Saturday, so Borthwick could deploy Max Ojomoh or Fraser Dingwall at inside centre. He also has Cadan Murley, Tom Elliott and Noah Caluori at his disposal as options to replace Feyi-Waboso, or he could shift Will Joseph or Joe Marchant there.
"I think another option there would be Will Joseph and Joe Marchant," Borthwick said of his options on the wing." Both play 13 and wing -- in the World Cup three years ago, we could've used Joe Marchant in that.
"So there's a little bit for me to think through, we have a few bumps and bruises to take away a way up and work out the best combinations. I've talked to you a lot about togetherness, cohesion, building that in this young side. So I don't want to make wholesale changes but given the medical report, it's probably looking a few more than I would have liked."
And regarding the threat Japan pose, Borthwick said: "As soon as a game gets loose, if a game gets loose, Japan are very, very dangerous. You saw that in the first try they scored in Cardiff, they won a turnover at the breakdown and scored within the next phase.
"Japan have guile, they have different types of plays, they're lots of little kicking plays. So that's a different challenge. And the third thing is Japan are willing to keep the ball for long periods and you have to get the ball back. And what pleased me today is we got the ball back."
The match will see Borthwick come up against former England head coach Eddie Jones. "I think Eddie is an absolutely outstanding coach," Borthwick said.
"I don't know who the best rugby coaches in the world would be, but if you're making a list of great coaches then he's up towards the top. I'm sure Japan will have a tactical plan to come here and try and derail us. He's very good at that. In training we often pose problems with the players to try and serve that purpose exactly. We'll be doing that this week as well."
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