Why Handre Pollard isn't in the conversation as the world's best flyhalf
The ability of Handre Pollard is unquestioned, he has been the anointed heir as South Africa’s 10 for a long time, based on a stellar under-20 career where the flyhalf showcased rare gifts for such a young man across three junior World Championships.
However, at the Bulls his development has stalled. Amidst an organisation in decline, his Super Rugby career in South Africa has never reached great heights.
This has had an undoubted flow-on effect at the international level. He is not the finished product nor has he reached his full potential. The ace goal-kicker is just that: a sniper off the tee but not an assassin with ball-in-hand.
His responsibility and role within in the team has to be considered when deciding the world’s best 10, and Pollard’s role is nowhere near as integral to the Springboks as Barrett is to the All Blacks or Sexton is to Ireland.
His ball-playing and playmaking is nearly non-existent, as he takes a back seat to other more established players, playing a distributing role to allow Faf de Klerk to make the decisions and direct play, and Willie le Roux to make the plays on the edge.
In the Springboks game plan, Pollard is a cog but not a vital one.
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Who handles the exit plays? Faf de Klerk with contested box kicks.
Where do the midfield out-of-hand kicks come from? Mainly De Klerk, sometimes Pollard and sometimes Le Roux.
Who dictates play around the field? Faf de Klerk. As a carry-heavy team, the Boks rely on phase play off nine far more than from the flyhalf.
Who takes over the play inside the 22-strike zone? Faf de Klerk.
Who is the set-piece attack built around? Strong first phase carries from Damian de Allende.
The bulk of Springbok tries that flow through the backline are heavily influenced by either Faf de Klerk or Willie le Roux, not Handre Pollard. This is clear in all of the last three All Blacks’ clashes where the team put up 36, 32 and 16 points respectively.
In the first Wellington thriller in 2018, the Springboks’ first try was a combined effort stemming from the work of a number of players.
To begin with, Marx carried from the back of the lineout.
The next three phases were carries off De Klerk the same way to the left, thinning out the right-side All Blacks’ defence.
On the fourth phase with 20-metres of width remaining, De Klerk played out the back to Marx behind a dummy runner, who then gets Le Roux away down the edge. As the designated killer, Le Roux fixes Jordie Barrett and puts Aphiwe Dyantyi in untouched.
Pollard does not touch the ball once. In fact, none of the Springboks tries on that night have the fingerprints of Pollard on them.
It’s more of the same in the Pretoria re-match. Jesse Kriel’s try early in the first half comes after a Wille le Roux linebreak and quick hands the same way through a couple of tight five forwards.
De Allende’s try comes off pure power-running from Siya Kolisi and an offload around the corner to the open midfielder running in support.
The third try to Kolbe in the corner follows almost the exact same pattern as the opening Dyantyi try in Wellington – three phases the same way playing flat off De Klerk following a scrum, before a release to Le Roux on the edge to put the winger in.
In all three tries, Pollard plays as a distributor early on in the play or on the phase before and the try is created by someone else.
To see what happens to the Springboks with just Pollard, look no further than the November tests last year where they lost to England, Wales and just pulled through against Scotland.
Against England at Twickenham, they did not have either De Klerk or Le Roux and managed just 11 points against a side that a few months earlier they beat 2-1 across a three-match series at home, averaging 25 points. When De Klerk and Le Roux were both starting in that series, they went 2-0 and averaged 32.5 points a game with the two playmakers opening up England’s defence.
With key controller Le Roux back in the line-up against Wales in Cardiff, but without their key driver De Klerk, they were outclassed 20-11.
The only Springboks’ try of the night came after eight phases off the scrumhalf before a smart ‘face’ ball from Le Roux found Jesse Kriel open in the corner. Again, there was no handling involved from Pollard in the movement.
A man-of-the-match performance by Pollard at Murrayfield helped South Africa scrape by for a 26-20 win over Scotland, however when using this as weight for the argument of best 10 in the world, you will need more. Scotland are a good team on their day but themselves are not in the conversation as the world’s best. The same goes for Argentina who were dismantled by South Africa in the final round of The Rugby Championship.
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In every aspect of the Boks’ game, Pollard isn’t the primary playmaker, game driver or decision-maker. To say he is in the same tier as Beauden Barrett, Owen Farrell or Jonathan Sexton is illogical, thoughtless and just plain wrong.
Does Pollard have the potential to get into the conversation? Yes, he does.
In order to do so, he will need to take over the reins of running the Springboks from de Klerk and le Roux, make the big plays and control the game against the best opposition, which currently he does not do, at least nowhere near to the extent of the others in the conversation.
The Springboks have every chance to win this World Cup and it may be the clutch boot of Pollard that gets them over the line in crucial games. However, kicking the goals is just the icing on top and without the direction of Faf de Klerk or silky ball-handling of Le Roux, it’s hard to see them doing it. Injuries to either of those two would seriously put their campaign in jeopardy, as without both of them on the field, the Springboks haven’t looked as convincing over the last 18 months.
Pollard is a very good player with plenty of untapped potential left, but reserve the talk of being the world’s best 10 until he at least becomes the main guy in his own team, equally responsible for driving his team around the park and making the big plays.
Rugby World Cup memories – Neil Back:
Comments on RugbyPass
Pick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
15 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
4 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
4 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
15 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
15 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
4 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
15 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
15 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
15 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
15 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to comments