England greats call out ‘lack of appreciation’ for veteran Springbok Handre Pollard, insisting he has been ‘harshly labelled’ ahead of Greatest Rivalry series
Veteran Springbok fly-half Handre Pollard and, inset, the up-and-coming Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu
England greats Ben Youngs and Anthony Watson have claimed that long-serving Springboks fly-half Handre Pollard has been harshly labelled ahead of the Greatest Rivalry Test series versus the All Blacks.
A winner of 87 caps, the 32-year-old half-back hasn’t been a regular pick for Rassie Erasmus in recent seasons, as the head coach has prioritised developing younger fly-halves to build depth in his squad ahead of the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
Pollard was the starting No.10 in the respective finals won against England in 2019 and New Zealand in 2023, but tactical rotation in recent years has limited his involvement.
He only started four of the 14 Test matches played by the Springboks in 2025, and his tally so far for 2026 is one start in four games – last month’s Nations Championship win over Scotland.
“Handre brings a completely different level of calm and pragmatism…”
The No.10 jersey rotated from Manie Libbok to Pollard and on to the debut-making Vusi Moyo across the July matches against England, the Scots and Wales, and it was then given to the fit-again Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu for the August 8 friendly win away to Argentina.
Thursday is the next team selection announcement for the Springboks as they prepare to begin the Greatest Rivalry series versus the All Blacks. Saturday’s opening match in Johannesburg will be followed by two more in South Africa before the tour finale takes place in the USA on September 12.
The indications in South Africa are that Libbok is the front-runner to wear the No.10 shirt this weekend at Ellis Park, but Youngs, the record England men’s caps holder, and Watson, a veteran of five British and Irish Lions Test series starts in 2017 and 2021, have insisted that Pollard still has plenty to offer at Test level, not only in the weeks ahead but through to the 2027 World Cup in Australia.
While Feinberg-Mngomezulu is their preferred 10 to start this weekend against New Zealand and also their fancy to still have the shirt when it comes to next year’s World Cup hat-trick title bid, the retired England duo feel that Pollard, their ex-Leicester teammate and a long-time adversary on the international stage, still has plenty to offer and has been mislabelled as only a ‘steady Eddie’ type player.
Having listened to Youngs explain on the latest For The Love Of Rugby episode why Feinberg-Mngomezulu should be the Springboks No.10, Watson replied: “I don’t necessarily disagree. The one thing is, if you’re going to stick with Sacha, you can’t then have a 6/2 (bench) split with a Libbok or someone who plays the same style.
“You actually have to have Pollard on the bench to come in case it’s not going right 100 per cent. The others are quite like-for-like, but Handre brings a completely different level of calm and pragmatism that everyone else around still can switch into because that whole backline is so experienced and so used to playing with Handre that it’s easy to switch mindsets.
“I also think that he gets a rough end of the stick as well because the other 10s for South Africa have quite an extreme playing style in that they’re not as traditional South African 10s are. They’re not facilitators. They are the guy on their own.
“And so, he [Pollard] gets harshly labelled as like a steady Eddie. I don’t actually think he’s a super steady Eddie. Like, he can pull out magic moments like crosskick magic moments. He can pull out distribution.”
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Agreeing with Watson’s take, Youngs enthusiastically added: “Pollard’s catch-pass, I never seen a player anywhere near him in terms of this. We’ve seen it. We trained with him and played with him every day.
“We have played with some amazing players, whether it be at England, club level or Lions – I have never seen a playing ability to catch a ball and get it out of his hands at the speed he does. The catch to release and the release – I mean, this could be a 10, 15, 20-metre pass – no one gets near it. I’ve never seen anyone near that, and we’ve seen it. His catch distribution is phenomenal.”
Watson added: “And he’s only 32. People are thinking it’s the end of the road.” Youngs agreed, suggesting: “You know what happens is the longer you are there, and we’ve said this about some England players, the more you are underappreciated, unfortunately.
“People get used to seeing you there. They see the new shiny thing. There is a lack of appreciation for what that player still does, still brings and can still do. And unfortunately, that happens.
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“You make a great point that where South Africa’s point of difference maybe will be is they already can play the game numerous different ways and beat you different ways of doing things.
“But if certain things aren’t working, they actually have a contrast where you can put someone out there that can just steady it and go and get the job done because he [Pollard] has been there, done it and knows all in terms of he’ll deliver it.
“They had that luxury in the World Cup in ’23. He saved them. We’re both going to agree on the same thing here: that Sacha is for the here and now with the influence of Pollard if needed. Manie Libbok and Sacha are very similar, or most similar, so it’s almost one starts and one maybe benches.”
