Fin Smith, the England fly-half, clearly remembers the day he first met Northampton teammate George Hendy. Smith was seven and unimpressed by the elevation of a precocious six-year-old to his age group team at Shipston-on-Stour RFC. Even then Hendy was hard to miss. “This lad turned up with bright orange hair and his legs put on backwards,” says Smith. “I was probably not too excited in getting him involved.”
Fast forward 16 years and both can be found on the same Saints teamsheet. Smith is already an England regular and Hendy, hoping to make a striking impact against Castres in the Champions Cup quarter-finals on Saturday, is aiming to wear the red rose in Argentina and the United States this summer. With the fast rising Henry Pollock also making a major splash, Northampton’s dressing room is not short of youthful ambition.
While the effervescent Pollock is in a league of his own personality-wise, the 22-year-old Hendy is another example of how far a positive attitude can take you. Last June, despite being only a replacement, he was player of the match in Northampton’s Premiership final triumph at Twickenham, a thrill beyond his wildest imagination. “The first two to three days afterwards was a bit of a fever dream. All the spirits are really heightened – and they’re also going down your neck as well!”
Since then, aside from a spell out with a shoulder injury, the eye-catching line breaks have kept on coming. His latest scintillating contribution did for Clermont Auvergne on Friday of last week when a swerving sidestep helped to set up Juarno Augustus for a memorable score. Saints’ head coach, Sam Vesty, wants his players to back themselves and the 6ft 3in Hendy is happy to do so. “The first thing Vesty always says is: ‘If you’ve got the ball in your hands can you score? And if you can’t score can the person next to you score?’ So every time I catch the ball my first thought is: ‘Let’s try to beat as many people as possible.’”
When it works the results can be spectacular. Some have dubbed the long-striding Hendy “the Ginger Penaud” and he has been examining how France’s strike-runners Damian Penaud and Louis Bielle-Biarrey create their regular mayhem. “As a back three we’re always trying to counterattack as much as we can. The kick option is normally the last one in the checklist. Then if you see a little bit of space open up you just back yourself.”
Castres have been advised to beware the "freak" talent of Northampton’s young England forward Henry Pollock in Saturday’s Champions Cup quarter-final at Franklin’s Gardens. Pollock, who scored two tries on his Test debut in Wales last month, is in storming form and his clubmates will be unsurprised if the 20-year-old ends up on this year’s British & Irish Lions tour.
In the Saints dressing room they believe the sky is the limit for the back-rower. Pollock gleefully announced to his teammates this week that he is the club’s most-followed player on Instagram but his bullet-proof confidence is fostering a buoyant mood as Northampton seek to reach their second successive Champions Cup semi-final.
“He gets asked every morning if he has heard from [Lions head coach] Andy Farrell yet,” said Fin Smith, England’s fly-half. “It has been pretty relentless but he has taken it all in his stride. No matter how teams target him or however much we take the piss out of him he just seems to get better and better. Fair play to him, I am glad he plays on my team.
“His energy is incredibly infectious. He is 100 miles an hour the whole time and that is said in the nicest way possible. He has really galvanised us. He charges into battle and we all follow him. To be that sort of personality in a team at his age is a pretty big testament to him.”
Northampton’s England centre Fraser Dingwall has also revealed that some teammates, himself included, have taken to ‘muting’ Pollock in the dressing-room for some peace and quiet but no one disputes the youngster’s ability. “It does feel like these people don’t come around that often,” said Dingwall. “He’s obviously a bit of a freak talent. His potential is so high and the important thing is that he keeps moving towards that. Ultimately he isn’t the player he could be yet and it’s vital he doesn’t lose sight of that. I’ve no doubt he’ll be a hell of a player.” Robert Kitson
There are, admittedly, still aspects of his game in need of some improvement, not least his consistency under the high ball. As he ruefully concedes: “I didn’t have the best of times against Leicester last month.” Then again, as with all young players, such work-ons are to be expected. Particularly for someone such as Hendy who, at times, was not obviously destined for a professional rugby career.
In his academy days, for instance, he was let go by Worcester and Northampton, making him the latest poster boy for anyone on a scenic route to the top. In his case running down his rugby dream has taken him via Shipston-on-Stour colts, a loan spell at Bedford and a brief period studying geography at Loughborough University. “There is an element of luck to it but I’ve always been a believer in giving it everything and seeing where I end up. I had a chat with my dad after I got released from Worcester. I said: ‘I’ll throw everything I’ve got into rugby. If the best I can get is Shipston-on-Stour 1st XV then so be it, as long as I’ve given it a chance.’”
Even if he does graduate to senior England honours, however, he will never be the most distinguished alumnus from King Edward VI school in Stratford-upon-Avon. A certain William Shakespeare was a pupil but Hendy, despite selecting the Tempest as his pick of the bard’s plays, was more inclined towards maths. In addition to being handy with a Rubik’s Cube, his favourite recreational pursuit is playing cricket for his local club whenever the chance arises. Last summer he scored 200 not out for Kineton 2nd XI in the Cotswolds League with 20 fours and nine sixes, the second hundred coming off just 38 balls.
Giving it a crack, it seems, comes naturally. “He’s got the ability to break open a game with his physical attributes,” says Phil Dowson, Northampton’s director of rugby. “He’s very fast and he’s very powerful. Every time he gets the ball our kicking coach, Jake Sharp, just says: ‘Score!’ He has that gamebreaking ability. He had a rough night against Leicester but everyone is going to have those. They’re just bumps along the path. He’s professional, diligent, a good lad and very talented. He’ll put his hand up for this summer’s England tour as will every other young English player in the league. Steve Borthwick and Lee Blackett have already had a look at him with England A and they’ll have some decisions to make.”
Borthwick is a firm admirer of Northampton’s attacking ability and the England centre Fraser Dingwall also sees Hendy as a potential international. “I think he’s improving the whole time. He’s had some challenging moments this year but you’ve got such a good talent there, someone who can do unbelievable things. I’ve no doubt he’ll continue to get better and better.”
All that remains, then, is for Hendy to follow Pollock’s example and just go for it. “Everyone in the team is capable of producing magic moments but at the moment it just always seems to be him,” he says.
With Tommy Freeman now embedded in England’s backline and the fit-again George Furbank back on the bench, Hendy hopes another high-profile Champions Cup victory will increase the Saints’ top-level representation even further. “From a personal perspective I want to try to push to be involved against Argentina. It’s as good an opportunity as any with the Lions tour happening at the same time.”
If he does make it they will certainly raise a glass to him back home in the pavilion at Kineton. “When you get a club contract out of school you’re on to step one of the staircase and you want to see how high you can go. I want to keep pushing and pushing and see what happens. The involvement I had with England A was pretty cool. If we can continue to put out good performances and beat top teams around Europe I might get lucky.”
