Pollard faces the boot
SPECULATION: JANTJIES WAITS FOR BOK COACH’S CALL
Erasmus says his No 1 flyhalf is working hard to get it right.
He is not the only one concerned over Springbok flyhalf Handre Pollard’s current goal-kicking woes, the pivot himself is a worried man too, national coach Rassie Erasmus admitted yesterday.
Speculation has been rife that Pollard could be replaced by Elton Jantjies for the Rugby Championship clash against Australia on Saturday in Brisbane after Pollard missed with seven from 11 attempts in the two Tests against Argentina.
“I think Handre is actually wor- ried about his kicking himself, to be honest,” said Erasmus.
In 31 Tests Pollard has scored 254 points, which include three tries, 46 conversions, 46 penalties and three drop goals and Erasmus believed the No 10 can find his mojo by himself.
“Every flyhalf goes through that dip sometime in his career – a sudden streak where you are just not so hot anymore,” he said.
“And then you get worried when things just doesn’t work anymore, but he is working very hard to get it right and he is busy fixing it.”
Erasmus, in the meantime, is very aware that the mighty All Blacks are lying in wait after this weekend after they made a superb start to their campaign with backto-back wins against the Wallabies.
“Obviously the biggest hurdle is Australia right now but if we go and look at those two games, Australia were right in it at half-time,” he said.
“It was only in the last 20 to 25 minutes that the All Blacks did what they have been doing for the last four years, which is to run away with the game because they wear you down. The secret is to be really fit.”
Erasmus however pointed out that in five of their six games they finished quite strongly even though they might have lost some of them.
“So the challenge will be to match them and hopefully overtake them in the second half, but the biggest issue right now is to get the W behind our name.
“We have to get it right quickly because you can start going into a slide. Just look at Eddie Jones and England. They won 23 consecutive games and then suffered six losses in a row,” he said.