Saints boss Dowson now happy to be on the Pollock hype train

The Saints boss has praised the very strong identity and intelligence the 20-year-old showed during his breakthrough season at cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens.

Pollock is now with the British & Irish Lions ahead of their summer Test series in Australia, and he will be on the bench against Argentina in Dublin tonight (Friday).

He has enjoyed a remarkable rise, scoring 10 tries in 22 appearances for Saints last season, earning him the Gallagher Premiership breakthrough player of the season prize.

He was also Saints' breakthrough player of the season as well as their young player of the season – and he won the try of the season accolade for his stunning score at Sale Sharks in March.

Pollock was also nominated for the Investec player of the year prize, which is hugely prestigious, as he helped Saints to reach the Champions Cup final.

Dowson has been speaking about Pollock's emergence and though he was keen to protect him early last season, he has been delighted with how his player has handled the spotlight.

"I've got no qualms with jumping on the hype train now," Dowson said. "He's a ledge!

"The media were crowning before he'd done anything, and that was my frustration. Just leave him alone until he's played some games.

"They wanted to do one-on-one interviews with him in pre-season and he'd only had one go off the bench with us.

"Four games in, he'd scored tries, been man of the match and played against Australia A - now go and talk to him.

"I just felt it was a bit too soon to be pushing him into the limelight, but it turns out he loves the limelight and he's very good.

"I spoke to him after the Bordeaux game where they were copying his celebration and stuff, and I had a press conference so I said 'mate, just drop in for five minutes, I just want to have a quick chat'. I asked him whether he was bothered about any of that stuff, he said 'no', swore at me, couldn't care less - and I said 'right, cool, chat over'.

"I just think he's very strong personally in his own identity, he's very intelligent, so he gets it.

"There's lots of the lads who give him enough stick to keep his feet on the floor."

One of the players who helps to keep Pollock grounded is his Saints and England team-mate Alex Coles.

"They've got a very bizarre relationship, but it's very funny," Dowson said.

"The first time I noticed it was after a game, they were in the huddle and the boys were all bleeding, cut, tired, bruised and wanting to get into the changing room. They were having a chat and Pollock kept pulling Colesy's hair, and Colesy admonished him like he was a puppy dog, and I thought that was amusing.

"Then another time, I'd walked out of a half-time, shouted something generic and I said 'yes, Colesy, that's the message' and then Pollock started barracking him, going 'yes, Colesy' and abusing him so I just thought those two have got something going on and it's grown and grown from there."

Pollock has attracted a huge amount of attention, particularly for his try celebrations.

But many on social media have confused his incredible self-confidence for arrogance.

"There's no front - there's nothing fake around him, he's not putting anything on," Dowson said.

"My concern is that gets coached out of him or media'd out of him.

"The interview he did after the game at Leinster was raw.

"So much of the media - and I'm guilty of it more than anyone - is flat-bat, say nothing, platitudes, blah. You watch any post-match interview in football, rugby, anything, and it's fairly dull, isn't it really?

"But Henry saying what he said after the game at Leinster, when he's that emotional and you can see what it means to him, was really refreshing, and that's what's caught the public's imagination.

"My concern is that he starts to temper that, whereas actually you just say 'mate, you say whatever you want to say'."

Pollock is now one of the most-talked-about players in rugby.

Children have been seen at Saints matches sporting blond wigs and headbands as a tribute to their new sporting hero.

And Dowson said: "The game needs that.

"The only thing with the queues and the hype and things like that, is that he gets time away from it.

"As long as he's not spending all day on social media, not spending all day signing autographs, not spending all day promoting merch.

"He's got to make sure he manages that as well.

"But he's not stupid, he's being well advised, he's got a great family unit supporting him.

"There's a great story about Fin (Smith) on the phone to his mum after being announced on the Lions tour, and he was emotional and saying he was so proud, having a quiet moment.

"Then there's Henry on the phone to his mum, just going 'let's go, let's go' and she was shouting it back at him.

"It was two different ways of responding to the same bit of news!"