Handre Pollard has drafted into the Springbok Rugby World Cup squad team to cover the spot left by hooker Malcolm Marx.
Marx was forced to withdraw from the Rugby World Cup in France earlier this week owing to a knee injury.
Handre Pollard called into Springbok squad
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Pollard will travel to Paris with the national side on Monday.
The addition of Pollard takes the team’s total number of players back up to 33. Pollard missed the RWC squad due to a calf injury, but he played again on Friday for English side Leicester.
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When the team was preparing for their final two exhibition games against Wales and the All Blacks in August, Pollard, a member of the 2019 Rugby World Cup-winning team in Japan, spent some time in camp with the group.
Plenty of hooker cover
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Coach Jacques Nienaber was happy with the effort of Deon Fourie and Marco Van Staden in covering at hooker and feels Pollard will add much to the group.
“We are confident with the cover we have at hooker with Bongi Mbonambi and Deon Fourie, and Marco van Staden has been slotting in the position since our alignment camps in February, so we opted to call up Handre, who has been in our system for years and who was a member of our team in 2019 when we won the World Cup,” Nienaber said.
“He’s been working hard to return to full fitness, and we are pleased that he now has some game time under his belt for his club, and this will allow him to slot back into the team.
“We’ll work closely with him in the next week to get him back up to speed and back into the full swing of things, and we have no doubt he’ll step up to the challenge. He’s been here before so he knows the physical and mental demands of the World Cup.”
The Springboks will make the journey from Bordeaux to Paris on Monday where they will begin their preparations for Saturday’s round-three RWC clash against Ireland.
