Chris Ashton claims Henry Pollock was never seriously considering leaving Northampton Saints, although he understands the “pantomime” surrounding the situation after the England star with the club.
Pollock joined Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom agency and took on the bombastic boxing promoter as his adviser, with Hearn publicly advocating for from his previous £150,000 deal.
Hearn suggested the back-row star, who has won 13 caps for England by the age of 21, was a “seven-figure player” worth £1m a year.
The promoter wasn’t involved in the contract negotiations but it was announced on Tuesday that Pollock had signed a multi-year deal with the reigning Prem champion Saints, worth more than £400,000 a year, to end speculation over his future.
Ashton – who scored 91 tries in five seasons at Northampton from 2007 to 2012 and remains the top try scorer in Prem Rugby history – was speaking exclusively to The Independent at the TNT Sports Prem Rugby season launch about Pollock’s new deal.
And, when asked if he believes that the 21-year-old was always going to stay at Saints, Ashton said: “Yeah, because they’re the best place in the league, aren’t they? The best place that’s got top to bottom at the club sorted.
“If you were the best player in the league and you were going to pick a club, it would be Northampton you’d go to right now, for purely rugby. What they do within the club and how they play rugby, you’d probably pick it. So, surely the option would have always been to stay, really?
“I get why they’ve made a bit of pantomime around it. It’s part of what Eddie Hearn does. He’s got to sell, sell, sell! It’s good that it’s in rugby though – it gets a few more eyeballs on it. It just gets more people involved and engaged, so I think it’s really positive to be honest.”
While Hearn’s million-pound proclamations may have simply been a negotiation tactic to earn his client a few extra pounds, rather than a serious goal, Ashton believes his presence in the sport will shake things up and can only be a good thing.
When asked how he would’ve reacted if a character like Hearn had wanted to bring him into his stable during his playing career, Ashton laughed: “I’d have been probably chasing Eddie to be honest. It would have been the other way round!
“I actually heard that he was interested in rugby league. He was talking to them quite a bit but nothing came of it. Now, obviously, he’s turned his attention to rugby union and not the game necessarily, but the players. Anything like that has got to be a good thing.”
Northampton head into the new season, looking to defend the Gallagher Prem title that they won by beating Exeter Chiefs in the final last season and eyeing a fourth crown in the last four seasons.
Bath, who won the 2024-25 title, are expected to challenge once more but Ashton is convinced that Northampton are undoubtedly the team to beat.
“I think they’re favourites just because of what they’ve done past three years or so,” he explained. “They’ve got the players at the right age, the right profile and they’ve got such a strong academy. Some teams might struggle if they lose a main player but Saints seem to have another youngster ready to go.
“They’ve just been smart, even with the Anthony Belleau signing for example. When Fin [Smith] was injured or away, they had another guy that played unbelievably well. And he’s stuck around now. I think they’re just smart in how they handle recruitment and using their academy. It’s just suited them really well.”