Last month Leicester outhalf, Handrè Pollard was talking up his health, saying he was feeling more comfortable, that his body is holding up and that he was moving around the park more freely.
That was music to the ears of Rassie Erasmus, the South African director of rugby, and Richard Wigglesworth, who stepped into Steve Borthwick’s role at Leicester when he left to coach England. Wigglesworth will join Borthwick as part of the England coaching team at the end of the season.
The Springbok outhalf struggled with a knee injury in the Rugby Championship last August and in October broke down again against Saracens, keeping him out of South Africa’s Autumn tour.
“You need a lot of patience,” said Pollard at this season’s launch of the Champion’s Cup in London. “You can get very frustrated easily, especially arriving at a new club wanting to be a part of it and wanting to contribute.
“Not being able to, it’s very frustrating, so being patient is key. Getting to a new club all you want to do is be in the locker room after a game, just contribute and feel part of it. That took a few months.”
That was then. A World Cup winner with the Springboks in 2019, Pollard’s arrival from Montpellier over the summer was Leicester matching ambition with action.
A natural physical presence and a reliable kicking game, occasionally from inside his half with precision cross field punts and high balls gives Pollard’s game diversity and breadth.
Last month, Gloucester scrumhalf Ben Meehan kicked a ball through on to Pollard, which he chased along with winger Olly Thorley. As Pollard scooped it up, Meehan gripped the South African over his back.
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Stealing a scene from World Wrestling Entertainment, Pollard stood upright lifting the clinging Meehan off the ground, with the Gloucester player’s boot swinging upwards catching second in Thorley in the face.
Robust, but Pollard’s distribution and game management have also been central to Leicester’s improvement after a slow burn start to the season. He has adapted quickly and is enjoying the challenge of a Welford Road style different from the preferred South African game he was brought up playing, one that relies on physical tyranny.
“We all know in South Africa we have a very physically dominated mindset, we know we want to physically dominate other teams and in England, it is more trying to outsmart with shapes,” he says.
“It’s something I didn’t do a lot in the past. I always enjoyed it but never got the opportunity to really do it, so trying to run the show exactly the way they (Leicester) want.
“What they really pride themselves on, running lines, all those details. It’s a cool part of the game once you have an understanding and to get an opportunity to do that is nice.
“It does suit me a bit better than an open style of play that it was like in France. I’m enjoying it and at Tigers, we pride ourselves on being tactically good, keeping teams under pressure with our kicking game. That is a part of the game that I really enjoy. It’s all coming together.”
Now, with three Champions Cup matches under his belt against Clermont Auvergne, Ospreys and Edinburgh last week, the game against Leinster on Friday night is nicely simmering.
Against Clermont Pollard kicked two penalties and four conversions. Ospreys provided four penalties and two conversions, while against Edinburgh his 11 points added up to three penalties and a conversion for 41 points over the three matches.
It helps being surrounded with quality. Freddie Steward, who was given a red card, later rescinded, against Ireland for a collision with Hugo Keenan in the final Six Nations match, has flourished under the regime at fullback.
Mike Brown, Ollie Chessum, Dan Cole, Julian Montoya, Jack van Poorfleet, Anthony Watson, Ben Youngs and former Ireland and Munster frontrow James Cronin all bring international influence. Remarkably, former Leinster outhalf Jimmy Gopperth, who will be 40-years-old in June, is still on the Wellford Road playing roster.
Pollard’s strength, at 29-years-old, is that he is at the age where he can straddle two important rugby worlds. Physically still in his prime he also commands considerable amounts of Test match intelligence, not just as a World Cup winner and the tournament’s leading point scorer, but with a locker room of 63 Springbok caps.
He may provide another interesting head-to-head for Leinster’s Ross Byrne.
Despite the torrential rain in Leicester for their 16-6 win over Edinburgh, Pollard threw a no-look pass deep inside his own half to trigger a Tigers attack. He and scrumhalf Jack van Poortvliet kicked perfect distance to put Edinburgh under pressure in the air. With Keenan patrolling, though, that will come down to a value call on the day.
With the England, South African halfback pairing, Leicester do have a quality unit to challenge Byrne and Jamison Gibson Park, if they get ball.
“There is a big debate about flyhalf,” said Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber in October. “We have Handre, Elton (Jantjies), and then, if you want to put them in a pecking order, a guy like Damian (Willemse) has stepped up.”
First in the thinking in South Africa and in the east midlands, Leinster is the freely moving Pollard’s biggest game to date.
