VIDEO: Kolisi and Pollard to go into World Cup cold?

NEWS: Springbok captain Siyamthanda Kolisi and flyhalf Handré Pollard would not have to prove themselves after their recovery and could potentially go straight from injury into a World Cup game.

Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber gave an update on the progress of these two injured Bok players in Pretoria on Wednesday.

“If you think of Siya and Handré, I would say that they have proved themselves in the past, so I think that would count in their favour a little bit,” Nienaber said.

“In terms of injuries, those are the two that will be out of action the longest. Hopefully they will be back before the World Cup, but if it isn’t, we will make a call on them towards the end of the tournament,” Nienaber elaborated.

“One can take players like Handré and Siya without them having played a game before the World Cup. I think in the years that they have served South Africa, they have proven that they are good enough to do it.

“Siya was in the same position in 2019 having not played a single game. He was involved in the warm-up match against Japan, went to the World Cup and was very good.

“Similarly, Handré came out of a knee injury into the British and Irish Lions tour and didn’t play much before that tour. He went on to help us win the series,” the coach explained.

“If everything goes well, hopefully they will make the warm-up games and again I reiterate, hopefully, but it is something you can’t predict. The one thing I can definitely tell you, is we will not push them.

Nienaber was adamant that these two vital players will not be considered if they are not medically cleared.

“Obviously confidence is something one will try and get out of training sessions and then they will probably have to build their confidence levels in games.

“But hopefully we can get them, but it will be what it will be.”

The coach confirmed that Elton Jantjies will remain the fourth flyhalf in the Springbok pecking order after Pollard, Damian Willemse and Manie Libbok and he will only become part of the World Cup set-up should Pollard not be cleared in time or another injury hits among the tens.

“The key thing is Damian and Handré will get the majority of the game time and obviously Elton as well. Elton needs game time. He hasn’t played for a while. So we are going to try and balance it as much as we can over the next couple of games between the flyhlaves.

“I don’t think there are a lot of countries that have four quality flyhalves available.”