….of why Pollard was so essential to our WC. And to think the only reason Eluckmiss had Pollard there was because of the Marx injury. Genius! being able to foresee that injury, pure genius.
Hear, Hear I know of at least one blogger who would go with that Moz.
But not to you apparently Dave…..c’mon admit it was a huge mistake not selecting Pollard from the off.
Precisely.
Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble. Admit it Dave we won the World Cup because our kicking was better than our opponents. That kicking by a man Eluckmiss never had the brains to pick until Marx got hurt. There is a huge difference between being a good kicker and being a good kicker under WC pressure.
From the 2015 QF
Handre Pollard 8
Showed exceptional composure from the tee with five out of five penalties, and largely brought down his man when targeted in attack.
From the 2019 WC final
10. Handre PollardMissed a straightforward opening penalty but never looked back off the tee. Came up with an outstanding take under the high ball and looked more assured than England’s playmakers. 8
From the 2022 WC final:
Handré Pollard Handed start after heroics last weekend and caused problems with high hanging kicks and was his usual deadly self from tee. 8
So here we have a player with 8 ratings in 3 WCs, one in a semi, two in finals….missing one kick in three matches and slotting some bombs.
And the genius leaves him out the team and you still think he knows what he is doing. Give me a break.
Actually on reflection I wouldn’t just say without Pollard we wouldn’t have won the 23 Cup. I’d say our whole run nearly winning the semis in 2015 and WCs in 2019 and 2023 would never have happened without Pollard. The only other player I would put in that category is Etzebeth.
"And the genius leaves him out the team and you still think he knows what he is doing. Give me a break."
He was coming back from a long injury...his reintroduction was fast tracked if compared to standard practice.
No Draadtjie…..the genius should have selected him in the original team. And if his injury was such that he couldn’t play effectively, he could have been substituted. But he had already played a club game before the WC.
There was no certain plan to get Pollard there, Libbok was the flavor of the day….Pollard, a proven WC veteran, discarded.
The only reason Pollard got there was because Marx was hurt. Creating the next dumb decision, playing the knockouts without a second hooker.
In the meantime we had scrumhalves to burn. Are you honestly claiming those were smart decisions.
"Are you honestly claiming those were smart decisions. "
No, I have no idea what the logic was for picking 4 scrummies...looked daft...