By Lucky Vince Pienaar
• Handré Pollard was by far the best South African rugby player on the field this weekend, but he plays for an English team!
• Pollard’s man-of-the-match performance helped Leicester Tigers secure a massive win that made the Sharks look decidedly second-hand.
Amazingly, 30-year-old Handré Pollard just keeps getting better and better. In a weekend that produced less-than-exciting rugby, Pollard and the Leicester Tigers put in a performance that made rugby worth watching.
It was a near-perfect day for Pollard. His brilliance off the kicking tee is not big news, although converting six of his team’s eight tries was impressive. But his play directing the game from behind the scrum was beautiful to watch, and he also scored a try of his own. It seemed as if he was making all the right decisions.
Pollard has often been described as “just a great kicker”, and there have been times when that criticism was justified, but he has been improving in every match he has played this year.
He has spent a lot of time with Springbok attack coach Tony Brown, and the effect has been impressive. While he may not be as spectacular as Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, it is becoming increasingly apparent that he is the player who should wear the number ten jersey when the Springboks take the field later next year.
For the Sharks, Saturday’s match is worth forgetting. Although they scored two tries, they seemed flat-footed from the kick-off. As always, they could have used the services of Springboks like Eben Etzebeth, Ox Nche and Vincent Koch, who were left in South Africa for the weekend.
Whether John Plumtree thought his “second team” could beat the Tigers, or whether he decided the men from Durban could not win anyway, is difficult to work out. Certainly, that pained look he always gets when his team is losing was very much in evidence!
➤ Fatigue in the Champions Cup
While the South African teams deserve to be lashed for their poor performances this weekend (except for the Lions), the format of the Investec Champions Cup and Challenge Cup is coming in for more and more criticism.
The players now face a 12-month season with hardly any break, and travelling almost the length of Africa every other weekend is taking its toll.
Fatigue must start setting in sooner or later, and that applies to the players, the managers, the commentators, the administrators and the thousands of people around the world who make their living from the sport. Television means money, and matches mean income, but the television treadmill that everybody pedals like hysterical hamsters is spinning out of control.
They say anything worth doing is worth doing to excess, but there is a smoking gun. When will the fans start switching off their television sets, and when will advertisers start shifting their money to other mediums?
South African team results:
Champions Cup:
• Leicester Tigers 56–17 Sharks
• Bulls 21–30 Northampton Saints
• Harlequins 53–16 Stormers
Challenge Cup:
• Cardiff 26–10 Cheetahs
• Lions 43–35 Section Paloise (Pau)
Pictured above: Handré Pollard helping the Leicester Tigers to take the Sharks apart.
Source: Planet Rugby
