I am a fraif Pollard did not make the Grade

Although he was slightly better than he was ibn the first two matches one has to take into account the following:-
*   He did a Morne Steyn not finding touch with a penalty kick and the end result was that the Sunwolves scored a try.
*    He was obviously losing his touch and was replaced at minute 53 - a really early replacement for a backline player. 
Sad to say that he has gone backward in performances and there is no real sign of improvement.   

 Maaik, the lad did not play rugby for more than a year. Nollis was a fool for not starting him from the bench in the first couple of matches.

 Agree DbD - the kid will need some time to sharpen-up.We (supporters, fans etc) are all too quick in condemning players.  Sometime it is emotional, sometimes it is because the poster does not understand the human physics, but mostly a knee-jerk !

 Draad
A school boy error not finding touch is not expected from a flyhalf on higher level - for me that was inexcusable.   He was also losing the plot before he was subbed and that is surely the reason fr what can be regarded as an early sub fir a backline player.  
Still say I was not impressed by his performance.
But then the other players were poor as well.   Botma getting a red was stupid and the ball dropped by Jenkins when he was over the line and no defenders in sight was equally stupid.  
I believe you have to have brains to play the game - donkey-brained players are just not good enough as rugby players.  

 Sorry - duplication

 I believe you have to have brains to play the game - donkey-brained players are just not good enough as rugby players.  
I'd like you to say the donkey thing to the player(s)' face(s). Cyber anonymity is a blessing in disguise.  
I suppose that would be true for posters who should be on-top of their game - posting.  Why would one post a remark twice?  Does it give you a better chance of convincing someone? 

 Maaik, very good pro players make school boy errors from time to time. Missing touch is quite common.

 Draad
When it is penalty kicks?   That is a Morne Steyn speciality - I did not expect it ffrom Pollard.  

 Aag Mike, Pollard was bad, but he can't suddenly be useless.  He needs a bit more time...lets see what happens.

 Agree with Draad.
Pollarx should have been given 10, then 20 and then 30 mins. There is no way he should have started the last three games. Not only have his performances dented his confidence but not starting probably hasn't done Schoeman's morale much good either. Now there are two problems where there could have been only one.
Maybe Pollard's failure to find touch was a schoolboy error but no school coach would make the mistake that Nollis has. I'm dubious as concerns this guy. His team should be a lot better than they are. On paper they are far and away the best SA side for me.

 Agree with Draad as well .

 I think Pollard might be an interesting 12. I hate players being played out of position and I'm sure Handre is one of them. He might be better at 12.

The old mangy mutt has found himself a Pollard bone, because he knows I rate the kid. Every time Pollard does something good the bone will be buried....but should he have a hiccup out it will come, with a lot of snarling and the usual botched lurid headline. . Let's remind ourselves of what happened to this kid: . 'Handré Pollard will remember 2016 for all the wrong reasons. Ruptured knee ligaments. Botched shoulder surgery, an infection, and a threat of his arm being amputated. Five weeks in a hospital bed while receiving intravenous antibiotics for up to seven hours a day. . Yet, the 22-year-old remains philosophical about the ordeal. Pollard prefers to focus on the positives of spending as many as 12 months away from the game for the first time. He speaks of his frightening experience in hospital as if it were another challenge. That said, he readily admits that it has altered his outlook on rugby and on life.' . Not nice for any youngster, let alone an athlete. So now he's back but his confidence has been shaken and he's rusty.....snatching a bit at his kicks and just a split second slow in his reactions. But he is the same player, who made every kick as a 21 year old at the WC. And just how bad was he today? . Handre Pollard - 63 6 2 - 10 - 1 - 9 . Six runs 63 metres beating two tackles....and as for being subbed for losing the plot, he was subbed just after an excellent run from the back which resulted in a penalty, which he pulled. And there is your reason for the subbing, in a close game the Bools had to win with 14 men, the coach decided to opt for a kicker who wasn't struggling to get his groove. . This is nasty stuff and I'm pleased to see other posters rejecting this crap.

 Moz I think there are very few that don't rate Pollard. He's already proved that he's got what it takes. Now's he's just gotta get back there.
Let's just hope to high hell that Coetzee doesn't have too negative of an influence on him. What's the opposite of the Midas touch?
For every Fergie and for every Jones there's a Toetie out there somewhere haha

If the man had any integrity he'd resign after 2016, he took a team ranked 2nd in the world to team ranked 7th in the world....that takes some talent.

 Mozart
Don't get an inflated self opinion that I dislike Pollard because you rate him - I am not a prejudiced idiot like you.
Maybe Pollard should have been fazed in like some of the members said - but none of them dispute the facts that he made serious mistakes as I wrote.    They tried to justify why his phasing in was wrong - they did not show outright support of him and nobody judged him as being acceptable bar you.   
If you were objective about players you should realize that he showed serious flaws in the game as well - but since you are so taken by him and without seeing the game you went bananas about him.
But then you saw nothing wrong about Morne  Steyn about missing a penalty line kick in Perth so one should not expect that you would find it wrong and poor play in this game. 
As to replacement I would dearly love to remind you that when Stander was replaced at minute 63 you wrote gibberish about his early subbing - but now subbing at minute 53 of Pollard is no problem.
One cannot debate anything with you - a hopeless case of pomposity without any insight into rugby as well.

 I am not a prejudiced idiot like you
Oh Dear, the holier than though BS again.......don't you tire of your own hypocrisy?
BTW it's 2.30am your time.

 I am watching cricket Denny,  

 Good man.
It's proving to be tough old game. There's one better going on in India which I think is at a higher level than the one in Wellington.

 Could not find time to watch that one - too much rugby and the Constitutional Court judgement on the Social Grant debacle was great entertainment.   In the latter case the Minister involved was told to provide reasons why she should not be held personally responsible for paying the court costs and the lawyers of the opposing bodies out f her own pocket.
That was a serious indictment of her sheer incompetence which led to the fact that the Constitutional Court judges was so unhappy with the situation which forced the Court  to suspend a key ruling of the Court to avoid the non-payment of Social Grants.    The Court gave a ruling to allow for continued payment by an illegitimate contractor - b ut they were obviously seriously annoyed about the situation they were forced into.          

Oh I saw the game ......OOm......your description is biased nonsense, dog with a bone bs.

Duplication

So you saw the game and still did not realize what went wrong with Pollard?  You never saw the missed kicks at goal - you never saw the penalty lime kick leading to the forst try of the Sunwolves.
You never saw it that the Bulls backline did not function properly before Pollard was subbed EARLY.
You did not even look at the defensive stats when you quoted part of the stats relating to ball carries - inasmuch as Pollard conceded  2 turnovers in possession, made 4 tackles and missed 1.      
You really must be kidding.     

 It's been a hard day's night . I should be sleeping like a dog . It's been a hard day's night . And I'm still sitting on the bog . Because when I woke up at two . I found the 5 day old stew . Was no longer alright....

 Another silly quote from an experienced deceptive contributor to the discussions on the site,   Sorry - but I have accepted long  ago that your assessment of performances is BS in capital letters and at best the result of your only norm for player assessments - namely prejudice.  

 Haha julle  twee

 Jack&Walter but who's which?

 

I've heard of Jack Daniels but never Jack Walters.

 You're up late Moz, or are you traveling abroad?

Nah waited for the cricket result......so a short night. And today it's the Chicago Cut for the world's best steak followed by As You Like It at the Shakespeare theatre, all the time thinking about the Pom/Irish game. . The conflicted life of a sports fan in a global sports world.

 
Pollard was really bad. One would have thought that the hapless Sun Wolves would have presented him with the perfect opportunity to find his feet.

Seems he forgot the basics of 10 play within a mere year.

So much for our saviour returning to the pitch. Perhaps it would have been better if he was kept on the bench ... the entire match.

 

 CC
There is no way that for three years Pollard was the star of the show at the Under20WC competition.   He was very, very good.
Pollard then signed a contract with the Blue Bulls effective from him leaving school.   He played for a while in the Bulls Vodacom Cup team and made occasional appearances in Super Rugby games when Ludeke was coaching the Bulls.   The latter pefer J-L Potgieter as flyhalf of the Bulls. 
Ludeke guidellnes as to flyhalf play was a killer.   Pollard came back to play more often so he appeared to make the grade.   Meyer used him in the Scots test in 2014 and he was apparently given free reign to play his natural game.   That as it and Meyer returned to Morne Steyn as flyhalf.   The Perth test was "f#cked up" so badly that we never really heard of Morne Steyn again - he was on the bench a few times - until his selection to start in two tests last year with 100% expected failure results.
So lets get back to Pollard.   After massive damage was done to his career and eduction as a flyhalf by Ludeke - Meyer took him in hand.   His first real test came in the AB test in Johannesburg in 2014 - which he passed with flying colours.   Mozart then selected him for the EOYT - in which he was below par.   The reason was clear - Meyer wanted him to play the same game he was taught by Ludeke to play. 
That was followed by another endeavor by Meyer and the situation was clear - the ball was passed to the flyhalf only when he was expected to kick the ball - otherwise it went to a forward - mostly Schalk Burger.   There was no real usage of the flyhalf in Meyer's WC strategy other than donkey-kicking.
After two years of extreme damage by Ludeke and Meyer to Pollard's playing career he was out of the game for over a year and it was clear that the damage Ludeke and Meyer did to his career - as well as his long absence from playing for the present decline in Pollard's performances.
So can the problem be corrected?  I think it can.   Take him in hand and hand him over to Smith and Venter to make him a functional flyhalf again.   If Smith could upgrade the two below-par Cheetahs flyhalfs Zeiling and Marais to a reasonable level - he should take Pollard in hand and get the BS out of him.  
Unless that is done successfully and all the Meyer and Ludeke BS is gotten out of his performances he might as well retire from international rugby.  
I am in a way optimistic that it may happen - but if the present trend continues there is no hope for that to happen and he will follow Fat Fransie's road to nowhere.











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