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'The public doesn't give a rat's ass that he hasn't played in 16 weeks'
By Chris Jones
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
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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.
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“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.”
The issue is with all this deceptive double messaging, this multiplicity in their statements. A couple of weeks ago it was: "Pollard and Kolisi are such known quantities, we're always going to nominate them."
Then the nomination comes and Pollard is not included due to injury. No further comment or explanation, until a couple of days after, just to mitigate the rumour mill that had started whirring in the vacuum left by the lack of communication. Why some other players, who also had been injured had been nominated, is not explained.
Then all of a sudden it's "Pollard is past his injury, but not fit. He hasn't played in 16 weeks, and he couldn't win you a game against Vatican City." Why drag him along, then? If you expect him to get in shape for some games at the RWC, why not nominate him? If not, why drag him along and not release him instead?
I'm tired of this duplicitous messaging.
It is very obvious, even to us little Bulgarians. They have named 4 scrum-halves because one will drop out to make way for Pollard. Bye bye Grant Williams. It's what passes for a deviously deceptive plan in the fiendish Erasmus-world. He'll probably bring out a video about it says my friend Udum Feukwitz!
It may have escaped your attention but the deadline for submitting the squad to WR is on the 21st August. Nienaber has not submitted the squad yet so he doesn't need to have anybody injured to replace them. You may also have noticed if you paid attention that what Nienamer said was that the squad that flew out to the WC will be the squad that flies back if there aren't any injuries. The flight to the WC will be when the team leaves England for France. Subtle but very correct. I don't have a quibble with your argument, or your suspicions, but you should get the facts right. You might very well have an argument after the official squad is submitted but until then perhaps better to keep harsh accusations to yourself.