Rassie’s Mourinho mind-games add more spice to France-SA, and why Pollock isn’t starting for England
Ex-England scrum-half Danny Care is providing his insight and analysis for TNT Sports throughout the 2025 Quilter Nations Series. In his second column of the autumn, here is his take on Rassie Erasmus’ antics, the “Ronaldo of rugby” that everyone is talking about, and why Henry Pollock is not starting games for England. Watch every QNS game – including England v Fiji, Scotland v New Zealand and France v South Africa this weekend – live on TNT Sports and discovery+
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Rassie does ‘whatever he wants’
I absolutely love Rassie Erasmus. I think he’s so good for the game. It’s refreshing isn’t it? In international rugby I think you don’t really get anyone like Rassie. He is his own person, he does whatever he wants. He only follows one person on social media platform X every week. He’s just following France Rugby this week. And then to predict their team – obviously they will have analysts and coaches that probably look around and go “this is probably the team”, but for him to put it out there in the public domain, it’s just fun isn’t it?
He’s like the Mourinho of rugby, he backs it up like Mourinho used to do. He talks his teams up but then he’d back them up, because he has got the best team in the world, so it’s a nice way to do it. Speaking to players or coaches in that environment, they love him. Apparently it’s so much fun, obviously the rugby is the super serious bit, but if the head coach sets that narrative, everyone else can relax a bit. He seems to put everyone at ease, and you can see when they go out to play, they’re free and they enjoy it, and they love each other’s company on and off the field. I think he’s got the formula right.
All this just adds to the spice. There’s already spice in that fixture from what happened two years ago in that World Cup quarter-final. The game is going to be mega. The French do night games better than anyone, they know how to create an unbelievable atmosphere, South Africa going back to the place where they won the World Cup for the second time in a row. It’s got every narrative you want and I can’t wait to watch it.
The ‘Ronaldo of rugby’ has blown me away
I was blown away by the 37-point performance of Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu [labelled by some as the ‘Ronaldo of rugby’] for South Africa against Argentina back in September. I don’t think you’ll see a better performance from an individual in a game. The three tries he scored, but there was also an unbelievable cross-field kick to Cheslin Kolbe, he did a show-and-go at 10 and then went into scrum-half and did an unbelievable dummy with a 360 spin, sat down a couple of defenders to score, and then a chip-kick. It was the all-court game, to score that many points in a Test match is unthinkable.
That 10 jersey in South Africa is massive shoes. Handre Pollard will probably go down as the most clutch guy ever to play rugby. South Africa maybe want to play a slightly different way to the way Pollard plays in certain games. And in Sacha, you’ve got a player that just sees space and backs himself. I love his energy and enthusiasm, he backs himself to go and be special. Special players do special things with the ball. To see him playing Saturday, taking it to the French – I think if you’ve got someone like Sacha, let him be him, let him be free. I’m sure they’ll be encouraging him to go and play what he sees and give it a real go.
He’s got every trick in the box. I’m all for attacking rugby, I love seeing a player that just backs himself and has the confidence to go and execute. The difference is there are players that have got that confidence, but then to execute skills under extreme pressure that is Test match rugby, he’s showing consistently now that he’s got the skills to back up the flair and the flamboyance.
I’d say he and Marcus Smith are similar players, an attack-minded fly-half, thinking back in the day someone like Danny Cipriani would say he was a ‘quadruple threat’ fly-half [someone who can pass, kick, run on the outside, and crash up the ball]. I love 10s that see the game that way and that can kill you from anywhere. If they see one chink in the armour they will go and exploit that. He’s a special player, so young, it’s not as if South Africa need spring-boarding into any more success, but with him there, they could get even better, which is scary.
Fans want to see Smith in the team
If you go back to last year’s autumn, Marcus Smith was the starting fly-half for England, and everyone was saying how well he played, the attack looked buzzing and Marcus was one of the best players. Whatever’s happened in the last year or so, he’s found himself out of that 10 selection. Back in at 15 this week, I’m delighted he’s playing, I think a lot of England fans are, because it was really strange not to see his name in the 23 against Australia. He is the player that gets the most fans excited, alongside someone like Henry Pollock, of players that England fans want to see out there.
But England played really well last weekend. George Ford played brilliantly, drove the team around really well, him and Alex Mitchell had a great blend and they found a way to win against Australia. I think this game will be different, so it’s great to see Marcus in the shirt. I’m sure he hopes his face looks different to the last time England played Fiji. I’ll never forget him walking into that dressing room in France, and we all just burst out laughing – we felt so sorry for him. In a way, it’s almost a sign of respect, the Fijians respected how good he was and they wanted to get stuck into him physically. And boy was he brave that day, that’s what he is, he’s a brave lad, he gets up and he goes again.
Marcus Smith of England looks on, as an inflamed lip, bandages and blood can be seen, after defeating Fiji in their 2003 Rugby World Cup quarter-final in Marseille
Image credit: Getty Images
I hope he gets some ball on Saturday to be able to show what he can do. It’s not in the position that we all know he wants to play in, but it’s still in an England shirt, at Allianz Stadium, with an opportunity to represent his country, and I know how much that means to him. I just hope they find ways to get the ball to him, to be able to show his super strengths in a bit more space in the wider channels.
Why Pollock is ‘where he needs to be’
I think Henry Pollock is exactly where he needs to be at the minute. I think Steve Borthwick and the coaches are being really smart with that. He is their hype guy, he is the guy that’s giving them momentum, enthusiasm, that youthful exuberance. And you saw the bounce and the buzz and the energy that he not only gave the team when he came off the bench last weekend against Australia, but the crowd too. You can’t underestimate what that looks like for lads that have gone to the well for 50 minutes in a tough Test match, and then to see those British & Irish Lions all come on together. The energy-giver that must have been for the team.
‘A peroxide peach!’ – Pollock makes instant impact with ‘outstanding’ try
Video credit: TNT Sports
We had Pollock pitchside after the game for TNT, and he’s everything you’d want in a player to be able to speak to; he was open, raw, honest, emotional, he gave us everything. We sat there and we loved listening to it. You can feel how much he enjoys his job, what he’s doing. I like him there, coming on, giving a bit of impetus and a lift, when sometimes you need it around that 50/60-minute mark in Test match rugby.
Pollock revels in England win after making box-office cameo off bench
Video credit: TNT Sports
It’s now or never for Scotland v All Blacks
We’ve heard it a fair bit – this is Scotland’s time, this is their best team – they still have, when you face it, under-delivered in terms of Six Nations, big games against the likes of New Zealand. This is their time to strike, if you’re ever going to beat New Zealand, it’s this weekend. New Zealand, for 60 minutes of the Ireland game, looked ok, didn’t show an awful lot, but the last 20 minutes was frighteningly good. I was watching that 20 minutes thinking, if they can get that for 80 minutes, they’re the best team in the world, I thoroughly believe that. The way they played with that power and speed, and that movement of the ball but with the power and dent to go with it, they looked incredible – but for 60 they didn’t, so that will give Scotland massive hope that if they could get stuck in early and get a good lead with a home crowd, that they could really rattle this New Zealand team. Scotland are absolutely full of confidence, Finn Russell is one of the best players in the world right now, loads of players back, their team’s absolutely stacked, apart from Zander Fagerson that’s the best team Scotland can pick. The time is now for them to hit New Zealand and see what happens.
Watch and stream every game of the Quilter Nations Series live on TNT Sports and discovery+
