‘RWC a good learning curve for youthful Boks’ – Pollard

Editor

Springbok fly-half Handre Pollard believes that the youthful Springboks gained the needed experience during their 2015 Rugby World Cup camaign.

The Boks kicked off their Rugby World Cup campaign with a forgetful 34-32 loss against the Brave Blossom. 

Heyneke Meyer's charges, however, bounced back with convincing victories over Samoa, USA and Scotland, which saw them progress through to the semi-final.

The defending champions, however booked their place in the Rugby World Cup Final thanks to a 20-18 win over South Africa in a nail-biting encounter that went down to the wire. 

Pollard said the pressure they were under after that loss to Japan was unimaginable. 

"Some of the senior players said, a few times, it is something they have never experienced in their entire careers," explained the 21-year-old. 

"We (the young players) are still in the beginning of our careers.

"It is something we take with us, to know we have learnt from this and gone through it.

"Basically it will be the mentality that nothing can get worse than this, the pressure we've been under after that first week," Pollard explained.

The precocious talent scored 15 of South Africa's 18 points on Saturday, but two tries, and 10 points from the boot of Daniel Carter secured victory for the defending champions. 

"It is obvious we didn't have the territory or possession we would have liked," added Pollard.

"Hats off to New Zealand, I think they played that game very smartly with their little kicks behind.

"All in all they played a suffocate and strangle game and that's probably the game we try to play most of the time."