Pretoria - The Springboks and the Bulls have been dealt a heavy blow after it was revealed yesterday that flyhalf Handre Pollard is set to miss the rest of this year due to a “freak” knee ligament injury suffered at training on Monday.
The 21-year-old has been ruled out for up to nine months and is only expected back on the field of play at the end of October, which will be at the conclusion of the domestic rugby season. He is also unlikely to be fit to travel with the Boks on their annual end-of-year tour to Europe.
Bulls coach Nollis Marais concedes that the loss of Pollard is “devastating” for the team and their Super Rugby ambitions, as the playmaker was the heart and soul of how they wanted to play in 2016.
“Handre was easing back into training, his first phase of final rehab (from a shoulder injury) before being cleared to play and was busy with a passing drill when he injured himself. This is pretty devastating for all of us, as Handre was a key player for us,” Marais said yesterday.
Pollard is the incumbent Bok No 10 and would’ve likely retained his place for the June internationals against Ireland and for the duration of the Rugby Championship, which will run from August until the start of October.
The absence of Pollard for South Africa has been exacerbated by the injury to Sharks captain Pat Lambie, who would’ve been the obvious choice to replace Pollard.
This has now swung the door wide open for Lions flyhalf Elton Jantjies to stake a claim in the national set-up after being shunned for last year’s Rugby World Cup.
However, the most severe blow will be to the Bulls who were banking on Pollard recovering from his shoulder niggle in time to start in their Super Rugby opener against the Stormers at Newlands on February 27.
Scrumhalf Rudy Paige will now assume the role of deputy to captain Adriaan Strauss and marshal the backline for the season, starting with Saturday’s warm-up match against the Lions in Polokwane.
The battle for Pollard’s No 10 jersey will be contested by Tian Schoeman and Francois Brummer with Schoeman likely to get the nod after playing a handful of games for the Bulls in last year’s Super Rugby campaign.
The bad news continued to flow for the Bulls yesterday, though. Loose forward Lappies Labuschagne is in a race to regain full fitness to face the Stormers.
Labuschagne, who led the Blue Bulls in the Currie Cup, injured his ankle last week and Marais was hoping to give him a run on Saturday as the Bulls put the finishing touches to their pre-season schedule. - Cape Times