Dan Biggar: British and Irish Lions snubs ‘can blame’ Henry Pollock for missing out as ex-Wales star reveals his ‘unlucky’ players
Henry Pollock after Saints' win over Leinster and Jack Willis in action for Toulouse.
Former British and Irish Lion Dan Biggar believes that Henry Pollock’s inclusion over more established internationals is not a controversial choice.
Northampton Saints’ rising star was the standout name from Andy Farrell’s 38-man squad that was announced on Thursday.
The 20-year-old is this tour’s bolter having enjoyed a meteoric rise since the start of the 2024/25 season.
Pollock only established himself in the Saints team in October and was playing for England U20s as recently as February, but he made his senior international debut in March.
He touched down twice on debut against Wales and has continued that form for Northampton, culminating in a star performance in their shock 37-34 victory over Leinster in the Investec Champions Cup.
So many back-row options
The youngster did incredibly well to get into a stacked Lions back-row, with the likes of Ben Curry, Jack Willis, Tom Willis, Taulupe Faletau, Rory Darge and Jamie Ritchie missing out.
Biggar was asked on The Rugby Pod whether Curry and Willis in particular could feel hard done by, but the 2017 and 2021 tourist thinks Pollock has earned his place on the plane.
“They can blame the young man from Northampton for that! That just goes to show, if you keep putting in performances, it doesn’t matter if you’ve got one cap, 20, 35, 100 – whatever it is – play well for your club, play well for your country when you get the chance, keep backing it up and you get a chance,” he said.
“With the make-up of that back-row, they’ve got a fair bit of cover in that Ben Curry-type role.”
Biggar’s comments on Pollock and the back-row was part of a wider discussion about which players were unfortunate to miss out.
The Wales great did not have too many qualms about the squad but he did feel that Scotland’s Ben White, who is also a team-mate at Toulon, was the most unfortunate.
“Ben White is particularly unlucky,” he said. “I look at the rest of the squad and I thought, ‘where would there have been real 50/50 calls?’
“That nine position would have been one of them, I think potentially between Garry Ringrose and Robbie Henshaw, I think potentially Pierre Schoeman and Nicky Smith.
“Maybe David Ribbans is unlucky but I look elsewhere and I don’t see that many other ones where I thought it was a real 50/50 call.
“Ben White is the unluckiest because that would have been the most 50/50 of calls in selection.”
Andy Farrell’s preferred scrum-halves
Alex Mitchell and Biggar’s former international team-mate, Tomos Williams, have been selected instead of the Scottish half-back, despite Wales’ struggles in the Six Nations.
“I don’t think anyone would have had any complaints if Ben White had been picked on that plane, he probably had a better Six Nations than Tomos Williams, by a fair bit.
“Maybe being in France and out of sight, out of mind a little bit perhaps counted against Ben, but he’s been excellent when he has played.
“I will say that Tomos Williams has got that X-factor, he’s got that ability to change the game from that point of view as well. It would have been an absolute flip of the coin that one.”
