England defend Henry Pollock after he makes gestures to Argentina fans

England have defended Henry Pollock after the young forward was caught on video making dismissive gestures towards Argentina fans on the streets of Buenos Aires before the football World Cup semi-final. England’s head coach, Steve Borthwick, insisted the Northampton flanker was just being “good natured” but has again opted not to start the 21-year-old against the Pumas on Saturday.

Footage has emerged on Instagram of Pollock and other teammates pulling faces, shushing the crowd and making various uncomplimentary gestures at local supporters from the top deck of England’s team bus on Wednesday. Anglo-Argentinian relations have inevitably been under the spotlight this week, with England’s players having previously been warned not to compromise their personal safety by venturing outside their hotel.

In that context it was not the most diplomatic move to respond so publicly to a few rude hand signals from Argentinian football fans, one of whom stepped forward and sought to hit the team bus, but Borthwick suggested no major harm had been done. “I think it was good natured and came from a good place,” said Borthwick. “We want character in our game and Henry’s full of character. We’ve got some players who wouldn’t do that and then you’ve got Henry who would go and do that. Argentina are a very proud nation, as we are. Our players are very proud of our football and rugby teams. So I think it was good natured.”

Borthwick did concede, however, that Pollock had been unhappy to be omitted from the starting lineup again despite scoring a hat-trick off the bench against Fiji last week. The management have instead opted for continuity and selected an unchanged run-on XV despite calls for Pollock to be given more game time. “We’ve had a number of conversations now because he’s definitely expressed his desire to start,” said Borthwick.

“He was disappointed not to be starting this week because he’s competitive and he wants to be in that starting back row. He trained in a manner that showed his disappointment. [But] to win games at this level, it’s 80 minutes and the impact you have off the bench can be huge. When there’s fatigue in the game and there’s space, his skill set can really be shown. So I value the people who finish the game as equally as the people who start.”

It means Pollock has still started only once for England, in a losing cause against Ireland, since making his Test debut 16 months ago. Borthwick’s counter-argument is that he needs a balanced back-row, with Ben Earl, Guy Pepper and Ollie Chessum all offering slightly different strengths, but Pollock’s precocious game-breaking ability and pace will be hard to resist indefinitely.

Steve Borthwick has defended Henry Pollock, saying the players’ actions were good natured. Photograph: David Blunsden/Action Plus/Shutterstock

Elsewhere there is a potential first cap in the offing as a replacement for Northampton’s Emmanuel Iyogun in the front-row, a slight back issue for Bristol’s George Kloska having prised open the door. In the only other tweak to the bench, Ben Spencer is back for the injured Alex Mitchell, with Benhard van Rensburg and Noah Caluori also invited to replicate the second-half impact they made in Liverpool where England ended a run of five successive Test defeats.

There is no such enticing opportunity, however, for a posse of other players including George Ford, Ted Hill, Theo Dan, Greg Fisilau, Max Ojomoh and Freddie Steward. All are now likely to return home having travelled to three different continents without playing a single competitive minute of rugby. It suggests England are firmly focused on rounding off their season with a morale-boosting victory at the end of a week that has featured numerous off-field distractions.

Among them has been the location of their team hotel, situated just across the road from the obelisk monument where Argentina’s fans celebrated with wild abandon after their semi-final victory over England. Players and coaches had to be given ear plugs to allow them to sleep and the squad will now stay elsewhere in the city on Sunday before heading home on Monday.

Borthwick says England’s footballing defeat has not made his team more determined to defeat the Pumas on Saturday. “Our motivation for the game on Saturday doesn’t change because of the result. We desperately wanted England to win … but we want to get the result and performance on Saturday irrespective of anything else that goes on.”

England team to play Argentina M Smith; Freeman, Slade, Atkinson, Feyi-Waboso; F Smith, Van Poortvliet; Genge, George (capt), Heyes, Coles, Martin, Chessum, Pepper, Earl. Replacements Cowan-Dickie, Iyogun, Opoku-Fordjour, Curry, Pollock, Curry, Spencer, Van Rensburg, Caluori.