Handre Pollard says fierce competition for the Springbok No 10 jersey drives him to raise his game as he prepares to face Italy at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
The 31-year-old, 80-cap double World Cup winner is back in South Africa having signed a two-year deal with the Vodacom Bulls, and will run out on his old home ground in Pretoria for the first of two Tests against the Azzurri.
Pollard is vying for the starting flyhalf spot with 23-year-old Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, a generational talent with eight Test caps, and 27-year-old Manie Libbok, who featured at the 2023 World Cup and has 19 caps.
We are blessed with so much talent in the country, and as teammates, we try to push each other and learn from one another because it’s important for us to evolve together and essentially become better,” said Pollard.
The former Montpellier and Leicester pivot said it was great being back in Pretoria.
“I’m really looking forward to my time here. I’m also looking forward to playing at Loftus Versfeld. I have good memories of playing there, and although this is a new season, we are excited to run out in front of our passionate home crowd again.”
While many have predicted a big win for the Boks, Pollard was quick to warn against taking Italy, currently ranked 10th in the world, lightly.
“This is a good Italian team, and we are certainly not underestimating them, especially with the passion and physicality they play with,” said Pollard. “They also have a lot of threats, and they are a side that are clearly evolving if one looks at their results in the last few years against some of the top teams, so it will be important to stop them and to front up physically.
“Over and above that, we have set high standards for ourselves, and we want to implement that at Test level.”
