Handre Pollard will play his first Test since August 2022 when the Springboks meet Tonga in Marseille on Sunday. Pollard makes his first Springbok appearance since playing against Australia in Adelaide before injury forced him out of the subsequent 16 Tests.
The clash against Tonga is his second match in 19 weeks since suffering a calf injury for English club Leicester Tigers in the English Premiership in May. He returned to action last week as a replacement in Leicester’s match against Sale Sharks.
Nienaber said that they expect Pollard to struggle in his first match back for the Springboks:
"That’s why we went with a five-three split [on the bench]. If you look at Handre, he hasn’t played top-level club rugby since the first weekend in May. I think it’s about 19 weeks ago and in that 19 weeks, he’s only played 30 minutes of club rugby and that was in the Premiership Cup [for Leicester Tigers] the other night.
"There’s a good possibility that he probably would struggle to get through an intense game, a good probability that he might cramp up. That’s why we went with the five-three and have Manie [Libbok] on the bench just for cover."
He said that he expects a realistic performance from Pollard: "I think that’s where we must all stay in the reality of it. He hasn’t played for the Boks in 13 months, he last played in the last week in August 2022 for the Springboks.
"He hasn’t played top-level rugby since the first week in May, which is 19 weeks ago. In saying that, he’s a quality rugby player and we all know that. He’s won a World Cup before, he’s won a British & Irish Lions series before.
"So he understands what international rugby and top international rugby is about, but I think we must stay real in that and give him time to settle in and get used to the pace of it."
