@Sharkbok & Blikkies. This might hurt a poster or two, but Heyneke Meyer has actually had Handre Pollard under the magnifying glass since before the age of 15. He was the one who convinced Dawie Theron to take him off the school benches into the JRWC for the first time when Goosen was injured and ruled out.
http://www.sarugbymag.co.za/blog/details/pollards-steady-rise
The handling of Handré Pollard has been a South African rugby success story, writes RYAN VREDE.
Pollard sent the South African rugby media into a spin when it was
announced he had signed for the Bulls after years spent in the Western
Province system. If you didn’t know anything about the game, you would
have been excused for thinking the world’s best player had transferred
from his hometown club to their bitter rivals. Instead, it was just a
kid, admittedly a gifted one, choosing a preferred entry point for his
professional career.
I struggle to recall any schoolboy player commanding the degree of
media attention Pollard did at that stage, and that attention has been
constant as he’s made his way through the ranks. The hype will dog him
throughout his career. For many, even a single underwhelming performance
will be indicative of his lack of aptitude.
To others, a single glittering one confirmation that he is South Africa’s rugby messiah.
Balanced assessments are lacking in the South African rugby fraternity.
Provincialism clouds those assessments further, with some bitter
Western Province fans praying for Pollard to fail, while the Bulls’
disciples won’t waste any time calling for him to be a Springbok. To
speak about Pollard in that context at this stage is ludicrous.
Pollard’s done nothing in his brief professional career to warrant
absolute praise, or absolute disdain. Certainly he doesn’t have the
swagger and impossible brilliance of a young Frans Steyn, who imposed
his will on men much older and much more accomplished.
Steyn immediately looked at home in Super Rugby and could well have
bypassed that stage and gone straight to Test rugby and still been a
hit. No, Pollard isn’t there.
But there are lessons in Steyn’s story. Having won a World Cup at 20, a
British & Irish Lions series a couple of years later and stockpiled
more euros than he could shake a stick at before he was 25, Steyn has
regressed badly. Overweight and seemingly lacking drive, the
once-brilliant talent is a shadow of his former self.
Steyn admitted to me in a 2012 interview that he had always struggled
with, well, let’s call it over-confidence. It made him difficult to
teach and correct, he said, and his enormous success and the
accompanying acclaim he experienced in his formative years as a pro fed
the monster.
He said he wished he’d had a mentor to guide him through that period,
wished he’d been more circumspect in how he dealt with certain people,
wished he hadn’t burned so many bridges, wished it had gone a little
slower.
Purposeful planning and expert mentorship – this is where our hope in
Pollard can be rooted. His move to the Bulls was the right one.
Supporters in the Cape have been so starved of success in recent years
that they lack the patience needed to create an environment where a
young player like Pollard can grow at his own pace. The media fuels
their impatience. Unless you hit the ground running, Cape Town isn’t a
city in which you want to start your senior professional career.
With Pollard still at school, there was already an impossible-to-match
sense of expectation in the Cape, created by his expert showings for the
Baby Boks in their march to the Junior World Championship crown in
2012. Signing for the Bulls will prove to be a definitive career choice.
That move was sealed well ahead of the time WP thought they had entered
into serious negotiations with him. Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer had
been watching Pollard since he was 13 or 14 years old and, acting in his
capacity as the Bulls’ director of rugby, engaged in informal
discussions with his parents about a possible move north. Meyer plotted
Pollard’s career path even then, explaining exactly how he saw him
developing. The Pollards were sold; WP never had a hope of securing his
signature.
Meyer would later get on the phone to Baby Boks coach Dawie Theron,
encouraging him to draft the kid from Paarl Gym into his squad for the
Junior World Championship. ‘You’ll win with him,’ Meyer told Theron,
who, to his credit, wasted no time in installing Pollard as his starting
10. Only that gift from the rugby gods, Jan Serfontein, prevented
Pollard from being named Player of the Tournament.
His elevation through the Varsity Cup and Bulls ranks has been good.
There wasn’t any pressure to rush him on, and the fruits will show in
time.
He hasn’t been outstanding or awful in the handful of Currie Cup
matches he has played, but there is enough there to suggest a bright
future.
In 2014 Pollard will get a taste of Super Rugby and the now hazy
picture of his future will become clearer, if not clear. He’ll need a
couple of seasons at that higher level before we are able to make
conclusive deductions about his aptitude. I wouldn’t be surprised if he
sizzles in his rookie Super Rugby season – he is a player of immense
talent – but equally it isn’t inconceivable that he would stutter along.
He’ll probably end up somewhere in between.
Furthermore, his best position is yet to be established. Pollard looked
comfortable at inside centre when deployed there, and certainly has the
physical (1.89m, 96kg) and technical skills to be a success in the
midfield. His temperament is good by all accounts, and will be further
honed in the Super Rugby cauldron.
Meyer’s high estimation of him means he starts at an advantage, not
having to catch the coach’s eye. Pollard is already a heavily pulsing
beat on Meyer’s radar.
The 2015 World Cup may come too soon for Pollard. His form in 2014 will
dictate any potential involvement in England. It is more likely he will
be part of a new chapter in the Springboks’ unfolding story in 2016.
The calibre of young players coming through is deeply encouraging.
Already Eben Etzebeth is an established international, Serfontein
continues to deliver performances that belie his age, Pieter-Steph du
Toit is worth investing faith in, while Siya Kolisi has only recently
turned 22. They are but a handful of names worth noting; there are
others, and Pollard has every chance of being the rock star of the
bunch.
