Pollard fired up to lead Boks against Wales in second Test

Springbok flyhalf Handre Pollard is fired up and ready to lead the national side for the first time when they take on Wales in the second Test at Free State stadium in Bloemfontein on Saturday afternoon (kick-off 5.05pm).

Pollard is in charge of a largely changed team from the match-23 that secured a narrow victory in the first Test, which features a number of debutants, but he is undaunted by the challenge and is looking forward to seeing what the new faces in the squad can do.

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“It is an unbelievable honour. You dream of playing for the Springboks but I don’t think captaining them goes through a lot of people’s heads, so I am looking forward to that challenge,” said Pollard, standing in for regular skipper Siya Kolisi.

“We do have a few new faces in the squad, but its guys that have earned their spot playing brilliantly for their clubs all season. That’s the nicest thing about how we do things here, we reward people for playing well.

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“So it’s going to be exciting to see what they can do on the field tomorrow. But we have enough experience on the pitch to handle whatever comes our way

“We know Wales are going to try get in our faces and under our skins. They’ve been pretty open about it and it was clear in the first Test match, but that’s something we enjoy. We are all for it. They can come at us because we aren’t going to take a step back.”

Not a one-man show

In terms of captaining the side, Pollard has plenty of experience around him to call on when needed, and he felt the biggest challenge would be trying to manage how Wales approached the referee during the game.

“Our leadership style has always been a group of guys together looking after certain pressure points within the game. Yes the captain’s got to run out in front and speak to the ref and I think that’s going to be a big thing on Saturday,” said Pollard.

“The way they (Wales) challenged the ref last weekend, I think they’re going to go for it again to put pressure on him because their backs are against the wall, being in South Africa playing against the Springboks.

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“So that will be an interesting challenge. But in terms of in our team, and the way we want to go about our stuff, we have Eben (Etzebeth) looking after the lineouts, Trevor (Nyakane) looking after the scrum, myself and Warrick (Gelant) looking after where we want to play on the field.

“So we have leaders in every department and we will together try lead the team as best we can. It’s certainly not a one-man job.”