Springboks coach explains last-minute changes for All Blacks rematch as update issued on withdrawn duo
Handre Pollard (right) and Kurt-Lee Arendse (left) were late withdrawals from the Springboks 23-man squad for Test Two against the All Blacks
Springboks assistant coach Mzwandile Stick has revealed fly-half Handre Pollard was in tears after suffering an injury in the build-up to their rematch against the All Blacks.
The fly-half was named in Rassie Erasmus’ initial 23-man squad to take on the tourists at DHL Stadium, Cape Town, but after picking up a knock in team training was replaced by Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
‘I could see he was going through tears’
While there is no official timeline on Pollard’s possible return to the field, Stick detailed that he has suffered a calf injury.
“I’m not a medical expert, but it happened on Wednesday, so he went for testing now,” the assistant coach told reporters. “I can’t really go deep and say how long he’s going to be out for, but it’s a calf injury.
“The nice thing – and I know it’s a sad situation – but for a leader like him to be honest about how he feels and lose his pride in a sense of saying, ‘Listen, I’m not feeling well’.
He added that Pollard was later seen in tears as a result of his injury.
“At that moment in the training sessions, I could see he was going through tears.
“It’s a sad thing to lose a player that way; he’s been in good shape, he has been working very hard even when he was not in the matchday 23, and he has been positive and trying to assist the guys. I feel for him, and hopefully he can recover quickly.”
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Elsewhere, Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s promotion into the run-on group sees Manie Libbok come back onto the bench, after he was initially omitted from the extended match-day squad.
Kurt-Lee Arendse/Cheslin Kolbe swap explained
Pollard was not the only late change to the Springboks side for Test Two in Cape Town, with Cheslin Kolbe replacing Kurt-Lee Arendse in the run-on group.
Both wingers came off with knocks in the 33-16 defeat to the All Blacks at Ellis Park last weekend; however, Arendse was named in the initial starting side on Monday while Kolbe was left out.
But, following the recent Stormers signing’s return to full training, and amid the backdrop of some teasers from Erasmus, he has replaced his fellow scrum-capped winger in the squad.
“Both of those players didn’t finish last week’s game, and as a coaching team we do our team selection on a Sunday, but at that stage we didn’t have a final medical report on Cheslin,” Stick said.
“Our team policy, however, is that if a player can train fully on a Monday, there’s no reason not to select him, and Cheslin did that and went well through the week, which is why we made the change.
“Again, I know it’s not nice for Kurt-Lee because he probably would have had the opportunity. But I think for us as the coaching staff, it was just because we didn’t get that final medical report from Cheslin Kolbe. So that’s why we had to make that change on Monday.”
