Pollard deal ‘was never on’
Bath Rugby were never in the market to sign World Cup-winning flyhalf Handre Pollard according to director of rugby Stuart Hooper.
Leicester Tigers confirmed the signing of the Springbok international ahead of the 2022/23 season after Bath, South African club the Sharks and a Japanese League One side were all reported to be in competition to sign the 27-year-old who is out of contract at French club Montpellier at the end of the season.
Pollard has been capped on 60 occasions by the Springboks since making his Test debut against Scotland in 2014 and will arrive at Welford Road as a direct replacement for England and former Bath flyhalf George Ford who is joining Sale Sharks next season.
With 34-year-old Danny Cipriani out of contract at Bath at the end of the season, Pollard had once again been linked with a move to Bath by The Rugby Paper.
However asked whether the club had been in for the British and Irish Lions beating stand-off, Hooper said: “I think it is one of those were we get linked with pretty much everybody and with Pollard being the big-ticket signing somewhere this year we were always going to get linked with him.
“No, we didn’t speak with him.” Providing a revealing insight, Hooper added: “It is an interesting signing, there is a big consideration around how much he will or won’t be there. It is interesting for them.”
And of course, Hooper is quite right; as it stands Pollard will likely not play for Leicester until December 2021, with the Southern hemisphere The Rugby Championship running in September and October and then the Autumn Nations Series ruling the key playmaker out for all of November, leaving another former Bath fly-half, Freddie Burns, to fill the 10 jersey at Tigers.
The following season the 2023 Rugby World Cup runs from September to October 28.
With Bath already losing huge swathes of players to international call-ups, including Sam Underhill, Charlie Ewels, Will Stuart, Anthony Watson, Josh Bayliss and Cam Redpath, amongst others, it appears Hooper was unwilling to consider spending big on a player who will miss significant chunks of the season like Cardiff Rugby-bound Taulupe Faletau has in recent years.
Speaking about the addition of Pollard to the Leicester Tigers squad for next season, head coach Steve Borthwick said: “Handre is a world-class fly-half who brings with him a wealth of experience from Super Rugby, Top14 and international rugby.
“He is a World Cup winner who has been highly sought-after from clubs all over the globe. But, most pleasingly, he sees Leicester Tigers as the club for him.
“What has impressed me most in our dealings with him has been his desire to be a part of what we are building at this club but also his desire to develop, learn and grow as a player and person.
“This is a very exciting signing for the club and one I hope Leicester Tigers fans are excited about.”
Discussing his decision to join Leicester Tigers, Pollard said: “There are bigger deals on the table, but I’ve made this decision to work with Steve (Borthwick) and to be a part of an unreal, great club at Leicester Tigers which has such a great history.”