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Jamie George says England team-mate Henry Pollock is a personality without precedent in rugby, adding the 20-year-old back row is a "genuinely fascinating" character.
Pollock enjoyed a breakthrough campaign last season, which began on the bench for Northampton and ended with two tries on his England debut, appearing in the Champions Cup final, and earning selection for the British and Irish Lions.
His on-pitch energy, exuberant celebrations and unabashed confidence have made him one of the game's stars, with his lick-lipping face-down of New Zealand's haka, external and role in a celebratory TikTok dance last month just the latest in a string of viral moments.
His Saints team-mate Fin Smith revealed on Wednesday that Pollock had sent Lions assistant coach Johnny Sexton pictures of Sexton crying after Ireland were knocked out of the 2023 Rugby World Cup as part of a running joke between the two during this summer's tour of Australia.
"Pollock and I had the funniest relationship with [Sexton] ever, we just took the mick out of him the whole time," Smith told the Saints Show.
"Johnny was great and enjoyed having a bit of banter with us too."
"Henry is different - I have never met anyone like him," George told Rugby Union Weekly of Pollock.
"He is himself, unapologetically himself and he is genuinely fascinating - he is an energy ball I have never seen before.
"He has an insane level of confidence. He walks into the room and tries to dominate everything and the kid is 19. It is mad.
"But he is genuinely brilliant. He is an idiot, but he is our idiot."
George is unsure whether Pollock would have been allowed to express his personality so freely in previous England regimes.
Eddie Jones, who led England from 2016 to 2022, has been criticised by some former players, with retired scrum-half Danny Care saying that, while Jones delivered results, the Australian oversaw a "toxic environment", with players and staff constantly scared of stepping out of line.
"I don't know," said George of whether Pollock would have fitted in in years gone by.
"[Current head coach] Steve Borthwick is a very clever bloke.
"He is probably having quiet words with Henry here and there, but something I am very big on is enjoying your time in camp and feeling like you could be yourself.
"There are obviously limits to some stuff you can do, but at the same time we encourage Henry to be who he wants to be and that is a hilarious bloke who we laugh at a lot.
"I have been in England environments I have really not enjoyed - times when we were in camp I would just want to go back to my room or any opportunity I would want to go home.
"It shouldn't be like that, it should be the best time of your life."
George believes that England's open, encouraging environment is similar to that in his club side Saracens' heyday.
George has won six domestic titles and three Champion Cups during his time with Saracens.
The north London side, who were demoted to the Championship in 2020 for breaches of the salary cap, have focused on fostering the best possible dressing environment in the belief it pays out in performance.
England's three most recent captains - the incumbent Maro Itoje and his predecessors, George himself and Owen Farrell - as well as Borthwick, his assistant Richard Wigglesworth and head of performance Phil Morrow have all worked at Saracens.
"Now, with England, it is about spending time with each other and enjoying each other's company and pushing really hard on the field," said George.
"When we were Saracens at our best, that was what we got right. And it has a similar feel in that respect."
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