'The public doesn't give a rat's ass that he hasn't played in 16 weeks'

Springboks head coach Jacques Nienaber has come up with a unique way of portraying the South African public’s attitude to the decision not to include outside half Handre Pollard in the defending champion’s 33-strong squad for the Rugby World Cup in France

He claims that “the public doesn’t give a rat’s ass that he (Pollard) hasn’t played in 16 weeks” after including the Leicester outside half who helped win the Cup in 2019 in a small group of players who are with the squad for the games with Wales in Cardiff on 19 August and New Zealand in London on 25 August but not in the official 33.

The head coach told reporters in South Africa that “With Handre over his injury, but, in my opinion, is not fit enough to play and perform and win a Test match for you. He’s busy getting there, and remember, when we selected him, the public doesn’t give a rat’s ass that he hasn’t played in 16 weeks. He must perform, and he must be the Pollard that won the World Cup in 2019. That’s the picture of the Pollard they want.

“We’re still building him up to that, so by having four nines, Grant can cover wing, and Faf is our third choice 10. Remember, we went to the 2019 World Cup with two 10s, and Frans Steyn was our third-choice flyhalf, yet he only played in the position last year against Argentina. Everybody commented on how much of a disaster it was and why we shouldn’t have picked him at flyhalf.”

“It’s like taking three specialist hookers to the World Cup, and you’ll find the third one won’t play much. They’ll get 15 minutes here and there, and the same is applicable to the third 10 if three 10s are taken with.

“We’re looking for a bit of both, but less than what we did up until now. We’re sitting with an experienced squad as compared to what other teams have from an age and Test caps experience.

“We thought that if they’d keep their form, we’ll probably end up where we are now in terms of age, but we know that availability can be a problem.

“We learned that lesson the hard way in 2011 where the experience to win the tournament was there, but getting them to last through the World Cup was an issue. We’ll chop and change less in the next two games and get combinations going.”