Meyer set to stick with Pollard

Handre Pollard will hold on to the Springbok No10 jersey for the Rugby Championship clash against Australia at Newlands. Photo: Steve Haag/Gallo Images

Handre Pollard will hold on to the Springbok No10 jersey for the Rugby Championship clash against Australia at Newlands. Photo: Steve Haag/Gallo Images

Published Sep 22, 2014

Share

Handre Pollard will hold on to the Springbok No10 jersey for Saturday’s Rugby Championship clash against Australia at Newlands, while Teboho Mohoje and Francois Hougaard are set to provide fresh attacking weapons as the two new faces in the starting line-up.

Pollard was a surprise selection at flyhalf by coach Heyneke Meyer for the blockbuster game against the All Blacks in Wellington nine days ago.

But, while the South Africans were unable to close out a famous victory by going down 14-10, The Star understands that Pollard’s classy performance under enormous pressure against the world champions has won him a starting berth for at least the two home Championship Tests, at Newlands this weekend and next Saturday’s return showdown with New Zealand at Ellis Park.

The 20-year-old Paarl Gym product belied his tender years with an assured display in the Westpac Stadium cauldron on a chilly and wet night, bringing an exciting dimension to the Bok backline by adding width to the attack with the vast range of passing game, sound decision-making and good tactical kicking.

It was Pollard’s ability to take on the opposition with ball-in-hand, though, that brought a new element to the Bok game as he kept the All Blacks defence guessing.

It was that skill that created Cornal Hendricks’ lone try in Wellington, with Pollard brilliantly dragging the New Zealanders wide before offloading inside to Hendricks, who streaked through to round off smartly.

Meyer will hope the imminent selection of Mohoje and Hougaard will address some of the shortcomings from the two games Down Under, particularly on attack.

The Bok coach stated that the main difference between the two sides in Wellington was that the All Blacks “looked after the ball” as they had done well in the set-pieces and in terms of their general physicality.

Jean de Villiers’ team certainly placed greater emphasis on holding on to the ball and taking the game to the Kiwis than they did in Perth, and it nearly paid off handsomely for them.

As Meyer said: “We wanted to keep ball-in-hand, but made a few mistakes in the gold zone, where we should’ve kept the ball.”

In other words, they would get to well inside the New Zealand half, but there would either be a knock-on or the ball would be turned over at the tackle point.

Captain De Villiers also remarked that while the “first-phase itself was good, we lost a lot of possession after the initial attack”, and that is where someone like Mohoje can make a difference at Newlands on Saturday. The Cheetahs No7 is a powerful ball-carrier who will attract two or three defenders like usual first-choice Willem Alberts would, but he also has good speed across the ground.

Mohoje is an efficient line-out jumper too, so that will also add to the options for Victor Matfield to call on when the Boks want to set up a driving maul.

Mohoje is set to get the nod ahead of Schalk Burger with Lions captain Warren Whiteley also in the mix for a bench spot.

Injuries to Fourie du Preez and Ruan Pienaar means Hougaard will get a long-awaited start at scrumhalf, but which Hougaard will turn up? He made his name with his ability to break around the fringes, then using his speed to outpace the defence.

Will we see that Hougaard?

SPRINGBOK SQUAD

Willie le Roux, Cornal Hendricks, Jan Serfontein, Jean de Villiers (captain), Bryan Habana, Handré Pollard, Francois Hougaard, Duane Vermeulen, Teboho Mohoje, Marcell Coetzee, Victor Matfield, Eben Etzebeth, Jannie du Plessis, Adriaan Strauss, Tendai Mtawarira, Bismarck du Plessis, Trevor Nyakane, Marcel van der Merwe, Lood de Jager, Warren Whiteley, Cobus Reinach, Patrick Lambie, Damian de Allende, Schalk Burger, JP Pietersen, Gurthrö Steenkamp, Schalk Brits, Bakkies Botha, Lwazi Mvovo, Morné Steyn. - The Star

Related Topics: