Pollard first in line for a call-up if Springbok RWC spot opens up?

When looking at the Springboks’ World Cup squad, the one major talking point has been the fact that Handre Pollard ultimately missed out on selection due to injury, despite the fact that he has recently returned to training.

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Last week, Bok coach Jacques Nienaber explained that Pollard was a quarter of the way back to full match fitness, but could only be involved in the tournament through an injury to another player.

However, it shouldn’t be forgotten that Nienaber also highlighted the fact that the deadline for submitting their Rugby World Cup squad is on Monday, 21 August, and so if there happens to be a serious injury suffered in this Saturday’s World Cup warm-up game against Wales, then a call-up can be expected.

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Of course, the Springboks will be hoping that they go through the game unscathed, but it’s also worth remembering that even if a prop was injured – for example – that doesn’t mean a like-for-like replacement has to be selected.

In fact, if the coaches felt there was enough cover in that position, they could opt to call up any other player, and it’s likely that Pollard remains top of the ‘standby’ list in terms of players the Springboks would want to call up.

Lukhanyo Am and Lood de Jager are still some way from being able to train fully, but Pollard is almost fully recovered from his injury, and travelled with the team to the UK for the final two warm-up games.

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POLLARD IS AMONG NINE SPRINGBOK PLAYERS ON STANDBY

• Lukhanyo Am (centre)
• Lood de Jager (lock)
• Jean-Luc du Preez (utility forward)
• Thomas du Toit (prop)
• Joseph Dweba (hooker)
• Herschel Jantjies (scrumhalf)
• Pollard (flyhalf)
• Evan Roos (No 8)
• Gerhard Steenekamp (prop)

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Meanwhile, Nienaber also provided reasoning into why they didn’t feel Pollard was ready to be selected despite many wondering why this was the case considering the veteran flyhalf is back in training.

“Handre is currently not injured – he has now had two full sessions with us, but he is still on his way back,” said the Bok coach. “We’ve got six years of data by position now – whether it’s flyhalf, loose forward, whatever – on what a player in that position needs to do during the week to give us an opportunity to win on Saturday.

“That might be metrics like high-speed running, how many kilometres he has done, how many accelerations and decelerations to be ready to perform physically on Saturday. If you look at Handre currently, he is probably only at 20 to 25 percent.

“To ask him to play now is like asking someone to run a Comrades in three weeks – and you have to perform in that Comrades – but you can only train 10kms a week. Will you make it? You might make it, you might walk and make it, but it will be luck.

“Where we learnt this lesson was in 2011. We had 27 of the [2007] World Cup winning squad that year but at some stages there were only 17 players training. And that didn’t work for us back then.

“Handre is probably 20% to 25% of what a guy like Manie [Libbok] or Damian [Willemse] is doing during the week and then they play a Test match. We can push him to 80% but I promise you, the risk of then losing him in the next two to three weeks will be 80% or 90% – it’s a numbers game.”

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THE VETERAN FLYHALF HAS BEEN A KEY PERFORMER FOR THE SPRINGBOKS FOR SOME TIME