‘Handre Pollard is not superman’ – Springboks boss Rassie Erasmus

Rassie Erasmus said it would be unfair to expect miracles from experienced fly-half Handre Pollard when he returns to action at the Rugby World Cup in France.

Erasmus was referring to Pollard’s goal-kicking after the Springboks struggled in that aspect of the game in their narrow 13-8 defeat to Ireland in their Pool B encounter at the Stade de France on Saturday.

Weighing up their goal-kicking options

South Africa’s director of rugby revealed that the Boks’ coaching staff would weigh up their goal-kicking options after Manie Libbok and Faf de Klerk failed to convert several shots at goal.

Libbok was off target with a penalty and a conversion while De Klerk missed two penalties.

“When number one in the world plays number two, the game is going to be decided by a margin of one of two or three points played in a really intense Test match atmosphere,” said Erasmus. “And I don’t think they converted more chances than we did – they just kicked two more penalties than us.

“A good team like Ireland, New Zealand or France are going to keep you out – like we did to Ireland – so converting chances is not easy. They scored one try and we scored one try; it was clear that our problem was that we didn’t convert our goal-kicks.”

However, Erasmus said it won’t be right to put too much pressure Pollard, who was called up to the Bok squad on Monday as a replacement for injured hooker Malcolm Marx.

Pollard, who was South Africa’s first choice number 10 when they won 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan, only returned to action as a replacement for his English club Leicester on September 15, after four and a half months on the sidelines with a calf injury.

“Everyone must keep it in perspective,” said Erasmus. “Handre Pollard is not superman and can’t come back as fully ready after playing only 30 minutes of rugby since his injury.

“He can’t just come onto the field to kick goals, he must also be able to sidestep, hand-off, make tackles, clean out at the ruck and that’s obviously not the case now because he has only had a full week’s training with us.

“That’s why he wasn’t up for selection for the squad in the first place, but he is definitely up for selection this week.

“Let’s give Handre a chance to find his rhythm and see how he does with the other stuff. Tonga will be a great yardstick to see how he goes.”

Meanwhile, Erasmus said he was happy with Libbok’s overall play, although he admitted that the 26-year-old’s goal-kicking is not up to standard.

“Manie is definitely playing brilliant fly-half rugby at this stage but obviously his goal-kicking isn’t matching that,” he explained.

“If you weigh up the different things he does, he makes a great contribution to the team, but he is in a bit of a dip with his goal-kicking – he knows it, we know it and the world knows it.”

Happy with Boks’ tackle technique

Erasmus also celebrated the nature of their clash with Ireland, in particular congratulating his players for ensuring their tackle technique was of the highest standard to avoid the issuing of red or yellow cards.

“For the third match now, we have not had any disciplinary issues and it was such a nice thing to have a game where there was nothing referred to the bunker,” he said.

“That’s what we want from Tier One nations playing against each other – no penalties for foul play and played in a great spirit by both teams, well handled by the match officials and the people in the bunker.”

READ MORE: Springboks prop accused of stamping on Ireland’s Josh van der Flier