Boks ‘have belief again’
POLLARD: COACH RASSIE HAS MADE A BIG DIFFERENCE TO OUR CULTURE
Star flyhalf admits there are still lessons to be learned.
There can be no doubt that coach Rassie Erasmus has led a big turnaround of the Springboks’ fortunes this year, according to ace flyhalf Handre Pollard.
Pollard had been one of the squad’s big successes on their Northern Hemisphere tour, which was set to come to a close against Wales at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff this evening.
He had racked up 43 points in three games, contributing six against England, 19 against France and 18 against Scotland last week, including a try in a Man-of-the-Match performance.
“Rassie has made a big difference in the way that he has brought back the belief and the way that he has restored the culture of the Boks,” the 24-year-old Pollard said in an interview on BBC Sport.
“We are playing with heart again, and we just want to make the people proud at home and work for each other.
“There’s still a long way to go and a lot of lessons to be learned, but it’s nice to get a couple of wins behind the team.”
Having moved into third place in the all-time Bok scoring list, behind Bok legends Percy Montgomery (893 points from 102 Tests) and Morne Steyn (736 from 66 Tests), Pollard’s 336 points in 38 Tests had lifted him beyond Bryan Habana (335 in 124 Tests) and Naas Botha (312 in 28 Tests).
Pollard nonetheless admitted the Scotland game was “very, very tough”, as it was his first time playing at Murrayfield.
The atmosphere was also incredible, he added, and witnessing their opponents being lifted by the crowd was something special.
“We were glad we could pull that one off,” he said.
“We knew it was going to go down to 80 minutes and luckily we came out on top.
“There were a couple of small moments which became big moments. I really thought we were good in the first half but we probably could have scored another try or two at least.
“We knew we just had to keep hammering at them in the second half, but they counter-attacked really well.”