Pollard, Am set to return to clubs after All Blacks game

Springbok stars Handre Pollard and Lukhanyo Am are set to return to their club sides after Friday night’s final World Cup warm-up game against the All Blacks at Twickenham.

Pollard and Am were both included in a five man back-up group of players, referred to as the “ready-to-play-squad”,  that travelled with the Bok World Cup squad to the UK for their games against Wales and New Zealand.

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With Pollard so close to match fitness a lot of conspiracy theories had abounded about whether the team management would find a way to squeeze him into the World Cup group ahead of the tournament that starts in France in under three weeks’ time.

Back to Leicester

However, it seems that unless there are any injuries picked up against the All Blacks on Friday Pollard will be heading back to his club side Leicester Tigers.

“Handre is on the edge of being fully fit and all he needs is a lot of training. He is currently in a return to play protocol and is on his way back to being available. He is probably a week away from being declared fit to play, but he would then have to be eased in,” explained Nienaber.

“If we compare him with Siya (Kolisi), he has passed his return to play phase and has started playing, but the play has to be regulated like with him playing 40 minutes (against Wales) on the weekend under medical advice.

“Hopefully this weekend (against the All Blacks) we can put some more minutes into him (Kolisi) and take him to 50 or maybe 60 minutes, but there will also be a cap on that.”

On standby

The rest of the ready-to-play-squad of Am, Joseph Dweba, Thomas du Toit and Herschel Jantjies will all also depart for their club sides if the Bok squad remains fully fit after the All Blacks game, but will still be on standby in case of an injury during the showpiece event in France.

“After this weekend’s game against the All Blacks if there are no injuries the whole ready-to-play-squad will return to their clubs. If someone picks up an injury during the week or in the match there will be a change in the squad,” said Nienaber.

“But there is still about 10 weeks until the World Cup final, so all of these guys will be on standby over that period in case of an injury.”

Interesting combination

The Boks have picked a very interesting centre combination for the All Blacks game, with Andre Esterhuizen and Canan Moodie partnering up for the first time.

The selection of Moodie at 13 is a telling one as despite his brilliant recent form on the wing it seems the Boks back him as a definite back-up in case of further injuries in the position, with Nienaber explaining that Am was still two weeks away from being able to return to training.

“Lukhanyo is about two weeks away from being fit. So even if there is an injury this weekend against New Zealand he wouldn’t be available as he is still in the return to training phase.”