Pollard is ready to make the step – Meyer
Springbok head coach Heyneke Meyer is confident that rising star Handré Pollard has what it takes to make the step up to international rugby.
Eight days after leading the Junior Boks to the final at the IRB Junior World Championship in New Zealand, Pollard will win his first cap for the Boks at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth against Scotland on Saturday.
Meyer admits he is asking a lot of the 20-year-old flyhalf, but believes he can become a great player for South Africa and insists he will excel under pressure.
“It is a big, big ask of him,” Meyer admitted.
“We did sit down and discuss it with him, and I thought long and hard about this. He has played a lot of rugby lately and has just flown back into the country. But I always believe that my ten must show the way, he is the general and he must take charge. I don’t think there is a better test match than this to put him in and let him play.
“I wouldn’t have put him in there if I didn’t think he was up to it. As a schoolboy, I went to Dawie and said to him he is good enough to play for the SA under-20s and he won that tournament for them.
“He has always excelled. I’ve always believed the great 10s and the great players are the same – the more pressure they get the more they excel. I believe Handré is a player like that, I know him quite well and I know his attributes as a leader.
“He has character, he is one of those guys who can go places. I just thought rather than put him on the bench and then bring him on, and you’re not sure, rather start with him and see what he can add to the team.
“I have a lot of confidence in him, he adapted well at training. He has Jan (Serfontein) on his inside as well, who is 21 years old and Fourie is on his inside – the best scrumhalf in the world and I want to see what he can add with Fourie at 9.”
