Springboks fans demand return of one player in particular ahead of Cape Town

Springboks fans have urged Rassie Erasmus to bring Handré Pollard back into the starting picture for next week’s Cape Town Test after South Africa’s 33-16 defeat to the All Blacks in the opening match of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry.

Much of the reaction centred on the No.10 jersey, with rising playmaker Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu coming under scrutiny after a difficult afternoon as New Zealand claimed a five-tries-to-one victory.

Pollard, a double World Cup winner who was not involved in the opener, quickly became the focus of calls for change on social media.

One fan posted: “I’m sorry but Handré Pollard is STILL our best flyhalf.”

Another wrote: “Some of you here will learn to respect Handre Pollard and Siya Kolisi.”

Supporters also backed the veteran to make an impact in Cape Town, with one comment reading: “Give us Handre Pollard back in the 23, and let him enter flowstate in Greenpoint.”

Others were even more direct.

“Handre Pollard is the answer,” one supporter claimed.

While another added: “Next week we need Handre Pollard at fly half and a more disciplined approach.”

The reaction was not limited to the playmaker debate, with some fans highlighting the absence of injured captain Siya Kolisi following a performance in which Erasmus admitted his side were “thoroughly beaten” by the world No.1-ranked All Blacks.

Erasmus highlighted a key turning point in the contest, with the Springboks trailing 19-16 in the 58th minute and applying pressure at scrum time before conceding a penalty on their own feed.

“Even if we had kicked over that scrum penalty and we won we still made a helluva lot of errors,” he said.

“But it wasn’t a wake-up call. There were just so many things that we did wrong and that New Zealand did right – so I’m not going to say we learnt a lot of things from this match.

“There would have been a lot of things we’d have to put right even if we had scratched through this match with a one point win.

“We didn’t play well. Against a class team like New Zealand, if you don’t convert, they give you a proper hiding.

“With hindsight, there were a lot of things we didn’t convert; I think there were two or three big moments when we let the game go away from us. Not because we wanted to or because we wanted to make those errors but because New Zealand forced those on to us by being really intense and sharp.”