Hearn wanted a million, the salary cap said otherwise
One million pounds a year. That was the figure Eddie Hearn, the Matchroom promoter turned rugby agent, floated in public when asked what his client was worth. Henry Pollock has now put pen to paper, and the number on the page looks nothing like it.
The 21-year-old back-rower has committed to Northampton on a new multi-year contract, confirmed Tuesday morning. His old deal still had a season left on it, running to the end of 2026-27. He had spent months refusing to say which way he was leaning, repeating that his mind was open.
“I’m delighted to re-sign with the Saints, my home club,” Pollock said. “We won the PREM last season and we want to do it again. Winning the Champions Cup is another big target.”
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Three times the money, still short of the asking price
Sky Sports puts the new terms north of 400,000 pounds a season. Roughly triple what he was on. That lifts him into the top bracket of back-row earners in the Gallagher Premiership, which is no small thing for a player who was pulling on an academy shirt four years ago.
It is also less than half of what Hearn was talking about. The Premiership salary cap does not leave clubs much room to manoeuvre, and Northampton were never going to hand a quarter of their ceiling to one flanker. Both sides met somewhere in the middle.
Phil Dowson, the club’s rugby director, sounded relieved. “Over the past few years, everyone has seen the quality he brings on the field and the speed of his rise,” he said, before adding that the character matters as much as the carrying.
13 caps at 21, and a boxing agent
Pollock debuted for the Saints at 17, back in 2022. England have capped him 13 times since. The British and Irish Lions took him on tour and used him five times. Last season he crossed for 10 tries in 20 appearances and walked off with man of the match in the final Northampton won.
He is also the first rugby player on Hearn’s books, an agency built on fight nights and pay-per-view. Supporters were split the moment that news broke. Public contract stand-offs of this kind remain a novelty in English rugby, and plenty of people did not enjoy watching this one play out in the papers.
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