Pollard lean and mean
MITCHELL: IT’S A SIGN THAT HE’S POTENTIALLY BECOMING RESILIENT AS WELL
Bulls coach says his pivot could also be tried out at centre.
Handre Pollard should probably forgive the broader South African rugby public for being anxious about seeing what he’s capable of in 2018.
For years, the 23-year-old Bulls pivot has teased many with glimpses of real class.
But various injuries over the past two years as well as struggles with form means Pollard’s true potential is yet to be determined.
Coach John Mitchell though is adamant his Springbok flyhalf’s only battle in 2018 is with himself.
“It’s not about proving something to the rugby public. He’ll do that naturally by himself,” said the former All Blacks coach ahead of the Bulls’ Super Rugby opener against the Hurricanes at Loftus Versfeld this afternoon.
“It’s all about proving himself to himself. If he remains healthy and robust for the whole competition then the Springboks are going to receive an outstanding athlete. Handre just needs to concentrate on what he’s doing. It’s dangerous to let someone else’s expectations control you.”
Even if Pollard is being given some form of slack by what has become a demanding (in a positive sense) coaching set-up, a battle of wills with Canes counterparts Ihaia West and Beauden Barrett – who’s on the bench – is hardly an easy way to start the season.
That said, if he’s to prove why he’s considered the first-choice Bok No 10, this is a perfect early platform.
Encouragingly, Mitchell believes Pollard is stronger than ever.
“Handre’s done a lot about his health. He’s lean and he’s on the pitch every day working on his game,” said the Bulls coach.
“It’s a sign that he’s potentially becoming resilient as well. We might not get all 18 games out of him because we’ll need to manage him. But if we have him for the majority of the campaign, he can contribute a lot to our continuity and confidence.”
With highly-rated back-up in Marnitz Boshoff, Mitchell is also not averse to exploring the possibility of Pollard doing duty at inside centre.
“Handre can play at 12. We’re very fortunate to have a very experienced player in Marnitz. We’ll see that combination at some stage in the competition.”
UHeinz Schenk
ntil JP Duminy gritted his way to a match-winning, unbeaten 64 in Wednesday’s second T20 against India in Centurion, it was pretty depressing thinking about the Proteas’ senior players.
Firstly, none of AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis, Hashim Amla or Quinton de Kock have been present while Duminy and the woefully out-of-form David Miller didn’t contribute their pound of flesh.
Tasked with being the standin skipper for the T20 series, Duminy admitted that the experienced men in the set-up were experiencing a “dismal” time.
It’s perfectly valid to criticise them for not taking responsibility in a period where they’ve needed to stand up against a classy Indian side. These men are professionals after all.
But I can’t help but think that the shenanigans at Cricket South Africa (CSA) board level are playing a subtle, background role in what, in general, has seemed like low morale in the Proteas side.
Usually, our cricketers have been pretty good down the years in brushing off governance troubles and still getting their business done on the field. However, for the first time in more than a decade, that might not be the case.
And it pertains to one thing: the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between CSA and the South African Cricketers Association (Saca). This multi-year agreement stipulates the commercial relationship between the players and the governing body.
In other words, it’s the piece of paper that keeps our cricket stars from ditching the Proteas and going freelance and earning mountains of money in overseas T20 leagues and English county cricket.
The current MoU expires at the end of April. Enough time for a new agreement still to be reached? Sure.
Yet there’s no indication of progress at the moment and rumours abound that CSA – still reeling from the T20 Global League fiasco – are operationally paralysed.
It’s also not very comforting that Thabang Moroe, acting CSA chief, is taking a hard stance.
In a press briefing in December, he said: “Ultimately the people that make money for cricket is CSA‚ it’s not the union.”
Seriously? If television rights are your main source of income, then it’s actually De Villiers and Kagiso Rabada that give broadcasters the appetite to screen CSA’s product.
You have to ask the question: wouldn’t you as a seasoned professional player also be rather annoyed by such a stance?