Springboks coach hits back at ‘conspiracy theories’ around Handre Pollard

Springboks head coach Jacques Nienaber has hit back at social media ‘conspiracy theories’ around his Rugby World Cup squad concerning injured trio Lukhanyo Am, Lood de Jager and Handre Pollard.

The trio were excluded from the squad named to defend their title in France through injury, despite being a key trio in 2019 and throughout the World Cup cycle.

However, Nienaber named the trio as standby players for the World Cup, implying that they would be fit nearer to the start of the tournament.

The Bok coach mentioned that they could come into the squad if other players ‘de-selected’ themselves or were ruled out through injury.

Conspiracy theories

These comments, paired with Nienaber’s decision to name four scrum-halves in his squad, has led to ‘conspiracy theories’ that players will purposely get injured or de-select themselves.

Ahead of the Springboks’ departure from South Africa, Nienaber moved to rubbish these claims and theories.

“There are a lot of rumours flying around about the squad, about this plot that we’re going to take four scrum-halves, and we’re going to put Handre [Pollard] in,” Nienaber said.

“I’m not on social media, so I didn’t know about it, but our media guys told us about this massive conspiracy.

“But how can you pick a guy in the World Cup squad – if you have a heart – and then tell him to fake an injury and get the other guy in? I mean, that’s mad. We would never do that.”

“I think one must start explaining by first saying that if there are no injuries, the whole 33 will go and come back.”

Manie Libbok and Damian Willemse

Nienaber further elaborated, focusing on the fly-half position with Manie Libbok and Damian Willemse now the two first-choice number 10s.

“Everybody’s talking about Handre, but what about Damian Willemse and Manie Libbok?

“You know, when Handre got injured in the Test match against Australia in Adelaide last year, after that, Damian Willemse played 10 for us the next game in Sydney.

“It was the first time that South Africa had beaten Australia and Sydney since Ian Mac [Ian McIntosh] was the coach. I think it was 29 years, and then from then on out, we’ve only lost three test matches with Manie and Damian at fly-half.”

Lukhanyo Am and Handre Pollard’s injuries

Nienaber also gave an update on the injury statuses of Pollard and Am.

“The thing about Handre is that he’s not injured now, and he trained with us for two sessions, but he’s still on his way back from a fitness perspective,” he said.

“We’ve got six years of data on our players in terms of what it takes to get them ready to give us an opportunity to win a game on Saturday.

“There are particular metrics to judge that, and Handre is at about 20 to 25 per cent of the loads, having done an attack and defence session.

“It’s like having to prepare for the Comrades in three weeks, but only running 10kms in a week. You might walk and make it, but there will be luck involved.

“Lukhanyo is still injured, and he’ll follow return-to-play protocols, but Pollard has recovered, and he’s at the protocols where we can press him.

“We can push him to 80 per cent, but it increases the risk of being injured in the next three to four weeks.”

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