England prop Joe Heyes has opened up on the infamous Henry Pollock incident that helped add to the tension ahead of England’s summer victory over Argentina.
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Reflecting on the fiery week leading into the clash in Santiago Del Estero, Heyes discussed the growing hostility between the two sides before a match that produced seven yellow cards.
Argentina fly-half Tomas Albornoz was later handed a four-match ban following his conduct towards referee Angus Gardner.
Steve Borthwick’s side eventually emerged with a 31-24 victory in their final Nations Championship fixture of the summer, securing their second win from three matches.
There was already plenty of emotion surrounding the contest. The long-standing rivalry between England and Argentina had been heightened further by the FIFA World Cup semi-final earlier that week, which Argentina won 2-1 in dramatic fashion.
Speaking on the For The Love of Rugby podcast with former Leicester Tigers and England teammates Dan Cole and Ben Youngs, Heyes recalled how the football result had contributed to the atmosphere.
“It was in the week they beat us in the football, so the emotions were high from everyone.”
However, Heyes believes another incident played a significant role in raising the temperature before the match.
A video from Buenos Aires went viral after Henry Pollock was seen making gestures towards a large group of Argentina football fans while on England’s team bus.
Asked whether he could sense the tension building during the week, Heyes admitted that the atmosphere changed following Pollock’s actions.
“Not to begin with, but when we were getting the bus back from training and it was the Wednesday of the game and you’ve got Henry Pollock making gestures outside the window and then we proceed to park 100 metres outside our hotel.”
Heyes likened the moment to the famous scene from The Inbetweeners in which Jay Cartwright shouts “Bus w***ers” at a group of people, only for the bus to stop at traffic lights moments later.
The Leicester prop went on to explain how the incident, combined with Argentina’s football victory, helped fuel the animosity that eventually spilled over onto the rugby field.
“As time went on after that, it became increasingly more hostile and then they beat us [in football] and there was a lot of news articles and TikTok videos which made it more emotional.
“I’m in front of him and I’m like, ‘Can you stop, man? You’re going to p*** people off’ and he just kept on doing it.
“There’s a big crowd of people and no one looked like they were filming it and then I get to my hotel room, scroll on TikTok and it’s just there, him emoting like on Fortnite. They hadn’t got a clue who we were, but it made things worse.”
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