Since bursting on to the international scene 18 months ago, Henry Pollock has walked a fine line between arrogance and confidence.

From his “pulse check” try-scoring celebration to his role as a pantomime villain on the pitch, England’s bottle-blond poster boy has provoked fierce debate. Fans of a younger generation are attracted to Pollock’s magnetism, but he has become an easy punching bag for rugby purists.

Pollock will be tasked with backing up his two-try cameo on the wing for England last week after being given a rare start at No 8 for Saturday’s match against Japan. He has already endeared himself to many of the Twickenham faithful, but with next year’s World Cup on the horizon, how is he perceived beyond the echo-chamber of English rugby?

There are few better places to start than with Eddie Jones who, in keeping with his usual spikiness, refused to be drawn on Pollock’s back-row capabilities earlier this week, instead playfully fixating on Pollock’s penchant for peroxide. “I like the colour of his hair,” said Jones. “It impresses me. I wish I had enough hair that I could dye.”

There are plenty of others – particularly in southern-hemisphere quarters – who are reluctant to talk up Pollock’s star qualities, which lie in his unusual blend of physicality and raw speed for an out-and-out back-row. Even the game’s alumni are muddled by all the hype around a player who won 13 of his first 14 senior England caps off the bench.

“How can you be a superstar if you don’t even start for your country? You’re playing off the bench and you don’t make the starting line-up,” Victor Matfield, the former South Africa lock, recently said on the Rivals podcast. “Superstars for me are Jonah Lomu, Joost van der Westhuizen in South Africa was a pretty big superstar, Dan Carter and Richie McCaw, those are the guys, Schalk Burger as well.”

Matfield also offered a sniping assessment of Pollock’s debut on the wing: “Our forwards always knew that was the easiest place to play. I wish I could have had a chance there, it looks pretty easy.”

Pollock’s international debut on the wing certainly seems less extraordinary when you consider the growing trend of players exploring positional versatility. Think New Zealand’s Leicester Faingaʻanuku, a utility back who has gone in the opposite direction to Pollock by switching from wing to openside flanker. Or South Africa’s André Esterhuizen, formerly an inside centre who has been moulded by the Springboks as a hybrid loose forward and flanker.

But for Sarah Bern, the Red Roses World Cup-winning prop, positional cross-pollination will only help Pollock – and England – reach new heights. “Rugby in a way has got to this point where everyone is doing similar things,” says Bern, who played centre in her formative years before converting into a back-row, then tighthead prop. “Your tighthead does this, your centre does this, your full-back does this. Pollock is a player who has all these skills and if that makes the game exciting and he helps create attacking opportunities from the wing, then go for it. It will evolve the game.”

Bern is also a fan of how Pollock, who recently starred on the covers of Tatler fashion magazine and Men’s Health and went viral a year ago for choreographing a TikTok dance with his England team-mates, is cashing in on this new personality-driven era of modern sport.

Off the pitch, promoter Eddie Hearn has promised to make him rugby’s first £1m player, flashing promise in the sport’s bleak financial landscape. “We’ve seen clubs fold over the past few years and having someone bring in a bit of excitement, big sponsors and be in big ad campaigns, that’s the way to change it,” says Bern. “We’re in the entertainment industry, and Pollock provides the entertainment.”

But how much is too much? The images of Pollock waving and making dismissive gestures from the England team bus when it meandered through Buenos Aires last July before their emotionally fuelled clash with Argentina left a sour taste before the match even started.

“For those less inhibited, does the game want hundreds of mini Pollocks roaming rugby fields around the world, at different levels of the game, behaving like he does? Having already forgotten where my boots were hung, I am not a big fan,” Frankie Degas, an Argentine rugby journalist, told Telegraph Sport. “In my day, an unhappy prop or even a pack, would make their grievances noted. It could be a generational thing, but two of my sons play and I would not want them to act like him, although I wish they could play like he does.”

While Pollock’s cockiness and authenticity are welcomed by some, many believe it needs to be bottled for the right moments. Pollock irked a raft of his England contemporaries in a stormy East Midlands derby last month before being hooked early in the second half.

“What comes with that is youthful exuberance, punch and sometimes a little bit of arrogance,” said Sean Holley, a former Welsh rugby union coach turned broadcaster. “I don’t mind that as long as he backs it up on the field. He certainly has entertainment value and we’re in the business of putting bums on seats. He is a clear winner and has a massive impact in games. He just needs to be careful and rein himself a little bit on some of his antics. If he backs it up it’s not a problem, as long as he does it with a little bit more humility and respect for the opposition and referees.”

Pollock, though, is already wielding his influence among a younger generation of fans. Ken Owens, the former Wales and British and Irish Lions hooker, has seen youngsters mimic the Northampton Saints player’s celebrations on the grass-roots scene in South Wales. “It shows his impact,” Owens told Telegraph Sport. “He’s good for the game, as long as it doesn’t go too far; we don’t want to lose what makes rugby unique, those values. What you see on the field is also perception over the individual. I met him on the Lions tour [in 2025] and he came up and shook my hand and was really humble, then we had a beer after the third Test. He’s a sound guy.”

Pollock has already been playfully dubbed as “King Henry the 8” by fans and commentators, but for former Ireland wing Tommy Bowe, he shares many attributes that the former Wales scrum-half Mike Phillips had in his playing days. “He’s not short of confidence but I think that is what this English team needs,” Bowe told Telegraph Sport. “It’s something I feel they have been missing and actually saying: ‘Yes, we’re England, we’re confident, we’re brash and we don’t give a damn what you think about it.’ He’s the perfect player to embody that.”

But those in New Zealand circles, where there is a tendency to favour on-pitch pragmatism over being a showpony, struggle to see what all the fuss is about. Gregor Paul, a journalist for the New Zealand Herald, likens Pollock to All Blacks lock Tupou Vaa’i, who has courted controversy for his antics for the Chiefs in Super Rugby.

“Vaa’i gets under the skin, if you knock the ball in he’ll come over and tap you on the head, but he’s not on Pollock’s scale, and there’s a bit of a debate in New Zealand over whether he should be doing stuff like that. It’s not the worst thing in the world for rugby to have a figure like Pollock who is so divisive, who creates the bait and this need for him to be discussed. But it will get boring if it’s overdone.”

Whether the world of rugby likes or loathes him, the “Pollockmania” train is showing few signs of slowing down.