Bordeaux fake news triggered backlash against Henry Pollock
Northampton have dismissed Bordeaux-Begles' claim that Henry Pollock dubbed the French side 'mercenaries' ahead of their Champions Cup showdown.
The European final spilt over last Saturday as Pollock was involved in a scuffle at full-time with Jefferson Poirot. The former France prop has been cited for allegedly 'grasping the [back-rower's] throat in a way that was dangerous and had the potential to cause serious harm,' with a hearing set for Thursday.
Tevita Tatafu, a back-rower at Bordeaux who did not feature in the final, was pictured mimicking Pollock's 'pulse' celebration in the Cardiff changing rooms after their 28-20 victory and then later holding a sign that read 'Pollock, calm down!' on the celebratory open-top bus.
At full-time, Matthieu Jalibert, the Bordeaux and France fly-half, accused Pollock of disrespecting the French club and said that the back-rower had called them 'mercenaries' in the build-up.
'If someone could find that [mercenaries] quote, I'd be really interested, because that's certainly not something we have come across,' said Phil Dowson, Saints's director of rugby. 'From my point of view, I can only talk about what I said but I would back the playing group to the hilt in terms of their manner. We have been very complimentary about Bordeaux; their class and quality in terms of a playing group, but also as a club.
'I haven't seen any evidence, and neither has the media team here, that we have ever used that language – or even alluded to or inferred that. So I don't think that's necessarily fair.
'Now, what they are driving as a narrative behind the scenes is different and is entirely their prerogative, but I don't think anyone from this group has ever suggested that they are a group of mercenaries. Coaches pull on lots of levers. There have been lots of times when I've twisted different things and our group are firstly principled enough not to describe anyone like that and secondly not stupid enough to do it to motivate a group in a final. I don't think we're that dumb. We're media savvy and well managed in that space.
'Coaches and management will pull loads of levers in order to get a response and maybe that's what has happened.'
After the final whistle in Cardiff, Jalibert told the BBC: 'I told [Pollock] that he didn't know our club. They said some things in the press which we didn't really appreciate.
'They said that we were a club of mercenaries who are here for the money. I just told him that he doesn't know our history, where we came from and that he must respect all clubs.'
However, it seems now as though the 'mercenary' message could be construed as a cunning piece of motivation by Bordeaux's backroom team, led by their head coach, Yannick Bru, the former France hooker.
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