Pollard looks set for test
[caption id="attachment_37661" align="alignright" width="405"] HARD AT WORK: Zane Kirchner is put through his paces during a Springboks training session at NMMU Stadium yesterday. Picture: FREDLIN ADRIAAN[/caption]
A WEEK ago he was marshalling the Baby Boks to the final of the IRB Junior World Championship. This week it seems flyhalf Handre Pollard will get his chance at the real thing when the Boks play Scotland on Saturday.
Something approaching a flyhalf crisis has earned Pollard his shot, but as Bok coach Heyneke Meyer has said all along, he would have been part of the team had he not been selected for the Baby Boks.
Morne Steyn, who started in the Bok No10 jersey over the past three weeks against the World XV and Wales, has returned to France. Johan Goosen is still completing rehabilitation to his knee and, as a precautionary measure, is likely to sit out this week.
Cue 20-year-old prodigy Pollard, who has literally played a handful of Super Rugby games for the Bulls and will complete a meteoric rise which saw him first play for the Baby Boks as a schoolboy in 2012.
Pollard, who was recruited from Paarl Gym by Meyer for the Bulls, is likely to be named as the starting flyhalf this week as part of a number of changes Meyer will be announcing today.
With the country's last flyhalf prodigy, Goosen, still struggling with his knee, the choice was down to Pollard and squad member and Lions pivot Marnitz Boshoff.
This presents the coach with a choice of going with a stop-gap measure in Boshoff or promoting Pollard a little sooner than he may have wanted to when he decides who he is starting.
Six other players have returned to their overseas clubs with Steyn, while Beast Mtawarira, Flip van der Merwe and Willem Alberts are out with injuries. Prop Coenie Oosthuizen, lock Lood de Jager and flankers Schalk Burger and Marcell Coetzee will probably feature among the changes. Following a call from Saru president Oregan Hoskins to field African players, Lwazi Mvovo will get his opportunity to shine on the wing, while PE-born Siya Kolisi, Teboho Mahoje and S'bura Sithole are likely to be on the bench.
Boks assistant coach Johann van Graan is looking forward to seeing the new faces make an impact.
"There will be a few changes because there are a few guys who are not in the squad anymore. The guys have worked hard together over four weeks. When you pull that Springbok jersey over your head, you're the best player in your country at that moment. We are looking forward to a magnificent game," Van Graan said. "I can't wait to see some of the guys play."
Van Graan and vice-captain Bismarck du Plessis believe the game will be largely decided at the breakdown – an area in which both credited Scotland as the best side in the world.
Du Plessis will know this from the two sides' last meeting in Nelspruit last year.
Van Graan said: "They have a new coach [Vern Cotter] and ... they are working on one or two new things.
"Overall we are going to do what we want to do, and improve from last Saturday's performance [against Wales]."
Meyer will name his team today for the clash against the Scots. Kickoff in Port Elizabeth on Saturday is at 5pm. - Chumani Bambani
