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Springbok Handre Pollard to make long-awaited return for Tigers

(Photo by Craig Mercer/MB Media/Getty Images)

Handre Pollard, one of the most highly anticipated Premiership signings of the 2022-23 season will make his starting debut for Leicester on Friday night when the Tigers take on Sale.

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Pollard has made just a solitary appearance for Leicester since coming on board at the start of the season, featuring off the bench in a 51-18 loss to Saracens in October. The experienced Springboks playmaker has been sidelined since his Premiership debut, with a knee injury first suffered during the Rugby Championship flaring up in the defeat.

Friday night’s fixture at Salford City Stadium will mark the final match of the calendar year for both sides.

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Pollard’s inclusion at No 10 is the only change new coach Richard Wigglesworth has made to the match-day squad from last weekend’s league win over Gloucester at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.

Pollard’s inclusion sees Freddie Burns shift to the bench.

Second-rower Calum Green, who is also included among the replacements, is in line for his 100th Leicester Tigers appearance.

Pollard will line up opposite in-form Sale playmaker Rob du Preez, who one international appearance for the Springboks to his name.

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With Pollard sidelined and Elton Jantjies also unavailable, South Africa relied upon the inexperienced Damian Willemse in the No 10 jersey throughout the latter stages of the Rugby Championship as well as the team’s northern tour, with youngster Mannie Libok also earning minutes at flyhalf throughout November.

With 63 Test caps to his name, Pollard’s return to action will be welcome news for both Springboks and Tigers supporters.

Friday’s clash between the second-placed Sharks and fourth-placed Tigers is due to kick off at 7:45pm.

Leicester Tigers:

15 Freddie Steward [63]
14 Anthony Watson [9]
13 Guy Porter [52]
12 Dan Kelly [47]
11 Harry Potter [52]
10 Handré Pollard [1]
9 Jack van Poortvliet (vc) [56]

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1 James Whitcombe [31]
2 Charlie Clare [64]
3 Dan Cole (vc) [301]
4 Harry Wells [167]
5 Ollie Chessum [39]
6 Hanro Liebenberg (c) [71]
7 Tommy Reffell [87]
8 Olly Cracknell [11]

REPLACEMENTS

16 Gabriel Oghre [2]
17 Nephi Leatigaga [75]
18 Joe Heyes [110]
19 Calum Green [99]
20 Sean Jansen [11]
21 Ben Youngs [290]
22 Freddie Burns [113]
23 Chris Ashton [22]

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f
fl 1 hour ago
Ex-Wallaby laughs off claims Bath are amongst the best in the world

I ultimately don’t care who the best club team in the world is, so yeah, lets agree to disagree on that.


I would appreciate clarity on a couple of things though:

Where did I contradict myself?

Saying “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.” is entirely compatible with ranking a team as the best - over an extended period - when they have won more games and made more finals than other comparable teams. It would be contradictory for me to say “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.” and then completely ignore Leinster record of winning games and making finals.


“You can get frustrated and say I am not reading what you write, but when you quote me, then your first line is to say thats true (what I wrote), but by the end of the paragraph have stated something different, thats where you contradict yourself.”

What you said (that I think trophies matter) is true, in that I said “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.”. Do you understand that Leinster won more games and made more finals than any other (URC-based) team did under the period under consideration?


“Pointless comparison on Blackburn and Tottenham to this discussion as no-one includes them on a list of the best club. I would say that Blackburns title season was better than anything Tottenham have done in the Premier League. My reference to the league was that the team who finished second over two seasons are not better than the two other teams who did win the league each time. One of the best - of course, but not the best, which is relevant to my point here about Leinster, not comparing teams who won 30 years ago against a team that never won.”

I really don’t understand why you would think that this is irrelevant. You seem to be saying that winning trophies is the only thing that matters when assessing who is the best, but doesn’t matter at all when assessing who is 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc.


“What I referred to in my Leinster wouldn’t say the were the best is your post earlier where you said Leinster were the best overall. You said that in two separate posts. Seasons dont work like that, they are individual. Unless the same team keeps winning then you can say they were the best over a period of time and group them, but thats not the case here.”

Well then we’ve just been talking at cross purposes. In that my position (that Leinster were the best team overall in 2022-2024) was pretty clear, and you just decided to respond to a different point (whether Leinster were the best team individually in particular years) essentially making the entire discussion completely pointless. I guess if you think that trophies are the only thing that matters then it makes sense to see the season as an individual event that culminates in a trophy (or not), whereas because I believe that trophies matter a lot, but that so does winning matches and making finals, it makes it easier for me to consider quality over an extended period.

24 Go to comments
M
MT 1 hour ago
Ex-Wallaby laughs off claims Bath are amongst the best in the world

As I said in one of my first replies to you - we can agree to disagree. If you want to leave it no problem. I completely disagree with your ranking of Leinster as the best team in the world. Now you have said you will change it if Bordeaux win the Top 14. Well as Leinster themselves prioritise the CC over the URC and Bordeaux won the CC, how are they not ranked higher by you? Are Leinster one of the best teams, yeah - never said they weren’t. But not the very best team, as the very best team have trophies to show for their seasons. They matter when you discuss the very best.


You can get frustrated and say I am not reading what you write, but when you quote me, then your first line is to say thats true (what I wrote), but by the end of the paragraph have stated something different, thats where you contradict yourself. Just so we are clear, you said you would too on my statement that I would rather be a fan of a team that won a trophy over the three seasons, but end the paragraph saying you would rather be a fan of the team that won the most matches but didn’t win a trophy. Both cant be true. Thats one example of where you contradict yourself.


Pointless comparison on Blackburn and Tottenham to this discussion as no-one includes them on a list of the best club. I would say that Blackburns title season was better than anything Tottenham have done in the Premier League. My reference to the league was that the team who finished second over two seasons are not better than the two other teams who did win the league each time. One of the best - of course, but not the best, which is relevant to my point here about Leinster, not comparing teams who won 30 years ago against a team that never won.


What I referred to in my Leinster wouldn’t say the were the best is your post earlier where you said Leinster were the best overall. You said that in two separate posts. Seasons dont work like that, they are individual. Unless the same team keeps winning then you can say they were the best over a period of time and group them, but thats not the case here.

24 Go to comments
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