Rugby World Cup 2023 – “I feel lucky to have been recalled to the Springboks” explains Handré Pollard (South Africa)

How did you experience these long months necessary to heal your calf injury and your recall to the Springboks?

It’s amazing to be back! I will try to take advantage of this second chance every day. This calf injury was hard to digest. It should have taken four weeks to heal, but it ended up taking three months. It was a frustrating time. But it’s the body, I tried my best to get back in shape as quickly as possible, but it didn’t work. When I was not selected, it was difficult… But that’s life! I was asked to stay positive, to be ready, and that’s what I did. I still remain sad for Malcolm (Marx, Editor’s note). Today, I feel lucky to have been recalled to the Springboks.

How did you get injured in early May?

I felt something on the Tuesday before the semi-final of the English Championship. I didn’t feel bad, so we gave ourselves time until the morning of the half, I tried to run. It was not conclusive. So I went back to South Africa, I took exams and, as I said, we thought that would keep me away from the field for four weeks. But I had some problems, which can happen with these calf injuries. It’s quite common. It’s bad luck, but no one made a mistake, we followed the process, it’s just that my body didn’t react as expected. I was able to start training again in mid-August. I attended the Springboks training camp the week of their match against the All Blacks at the end of August. But it was too late, the selection had already been made.

From a personal point of view, after such a long absence, what do you expect from this match against Tonga?

I have to be realistic about my situation. I just played 30 minutes of a pre-season match with my club a few weeks ago. It will be a big jump to play a World Cup match. But I have confidence, we prepared well. Personally, I’m looking forward to enjoying it, being able to express myself on the pitch. I know everything won’t be perfect. I have to come back little by little.

How do the Springboks scorers deal with their lack of success? There are a lot of reviews…

There is a lot of pressure on our scorers at the moment. But if you saw the work they put in every day in training, you would know that everything is going to be okay. Not too long ago, these guys also had 100% matches! The scorers remain united among themselves. I don’t talk about it too much with Manie (Libbok), because the goal is something personal. I don’t want to bother him with this. If he needs help, I’m there for him, but he’s already in good hands.

You haven’t played with the Springboks since August 2022. What do you think of the change in philosophy?

During this year, I was excited to see this evolution. We know that our conquest, our defense and our kicking game will always be the basis of our game. But we have added to this all a great ability to attack to create more opportunities. It’s not a big change, it’s a small change in mindset for the team. The guys are excited about this! Because conquest, defense, kicking, it can take you far, but if you want to win a second World Cup in a row, you need to add something extra compared to the competition. We have that now. We just have to make sure we’re more comfortable there. We have to improve every time we go out.