Henry Pollock rubbishes ‘conspiracy theory’ about ‘pulse check’ celebration against Leinster
Henry Pollock has revealed the inspiration behind his try celebration against Leinster.
British and Irish Lions squad member Henry Pollock has revealed the inspiration behind his try celebration against Leinster in the Investec Champions Cup semi-finals.
The one-cap England sensation has rocketed to the very top of the game after being named in Andy Farrell’s Lions touring squad that will head Down Under.
At 20 years old, he is the youngest player in the squad and has the fewest international caps.
However, his form for Northampton Saints this season made it hard to ignore, particularly after his sterling performance against Leinster.
Saints were overwhelming underdogs for the clash in Dublin but produced a wonderful performance to knock the Irish powerhouse out of the competition.
Try celebration v Leinster
Pollock certainly played his part in the victory, scoring a wonder try as he sliced through the Leinster defence near the halfway line and sprinted through to score.
Afterwards, he celebrated by placing a finger to his neck to ‘check his pulse’. The livewire flanker has quickly gained a reputation for his try celebrations, doing a basketball throw after dotting down against Castres in the Champions Cup quarter-final, with his teammates joining the fun.
Saints winger Tommy Freeman scored a hat-trick in the victory over Leinster and had a celebration for each score, too.
Since the semi-final fans and pundits have been eager to know the inspiration behind Pollock’s celebration, with former England number eight Lawrence Dallaglio having a wild theory, which the flanker has dispelled during his appearance on the Stick to Rugby podcast.
“Everybody was talking about it and Lol [Dallaglio] has got a conspiracy theory about your celebration,” ex-Lions and Wales back-rower Scott Quinnell said.
Dallaglio explained: “I heard you say something about ‘I’m gonna get under their skin’ and my view was that they said ‘we’re going to kill him’ and you went like that, saying ‘Well I’m still alive’. Is that close to it?”
Pollock explained that it was, in fact, inspired by Manchester United right-back Diogo Dalot, with the young loose forward explaining that he simply nicked it from him.
“No, no, it’s actually not,” he said in reply to Dallaglio’s theory.
“I remember watching a football game and you know Diogo Dalot? That’s actually his celebration.
“I just thought of it and in the game, I was thinking ‘Just feel the heart rate, it’d be cool’ and it just kind of came to me.
“Me and [Tommy] Freeman were talking about it before the game and what could we do.”
