VIDEO: Injured Bok stars on RTT & RTP
Conspiracy theories have a tendency to grow legs and it is no different with the Handre Pollard rumour mill.
Despite his most vehement denials, Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber continues to field questions about the urban myth that Pollard will replace one of the 33 players named in the World Cup squad earlier this month.
Three stars from the class of 2019 – flyhalf Handre Pollard, centre Lukhanyo Am and lock Lood de Jager – were missing from the group the will defend South Africa’s title in France.
Pollard hasn’t played since he suffered a calf injury, while playing for Leicester Tigers in the final round of Premiership pool action back in May.
He has since started training with the Boks, but will return to his club after the encounter between South Africa and New Zealand at Twickenham on Friday.
Am injured his knee in the first half of the Boks’ 24-13 World Cup warm-up win over Los Pumas in Buenos Aires earlier this month. He has not yet returned to training.
De Jager will miss the trip to France as a result of a mysterious chest illness that also ruled him out of the encounter with Argentina.
They are among nine players on standby – five of whom travelled with the team to Cardiff and London for their last two warm-up matches.
The nine players are Am (centre), De Jager (lock), Jean-Luc du Preez (utility forward), Thomas du Toit (prop), Joseph Dweba (hooker), Herschel Jantjies (scrumhalf), Pollard (flyhalf), Evan Roos (No.8) and Gerhard Steenekamp (prop).
The five who travelled to the United Kingdom are Du Toit, Du Preez, Dweba, Pollard and Am.
Nienaber, after naming the team to face the All Blacks on Friday, said Pollard and Am are on the road to recover, but again dismissed the suggestion that they would be ‘parachuted’ into the World Cup squad at the expense of another player.
(WATCH as Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber clears up any doubt about the injury status of World Cup winners Handre Pollard and Lukhanyo Am and their possible return to the squad…)
“Luky [Am] is probably about another two weeks away from being fit,” Nienaber said.
“Handre is on the edge of being fully fit.
“He’s not in a return-to-train protocol anymore, RTT. That’s where Luky [Am] is, return-to-training. He hasn’t trained with us yet.
“However, he [Pollard] is in the return-to-play cycle – RTP. He is on his way back to play – probably a week away from being cleared to play.”
He confirmed that the other standby players will return to their domestic teams after Friday’s encounter.
The only way any of those nine players will feature in the World Cup is if there are injuries.
“The squad we announced earlier this month is the squad submitted to World Rugby,” Nienaber said.
“If there’s an injury, we would change the composition, but there are no injuries currently. If it does, then obviously we’ll change things.
“The World Cup Final, for example, is still 10 weeks away. Things can change.
“If there are any injuries, we can still even see a guy like Lood [de Jager] coming back in.
“Any of the ready-to-play guys are in the frame – Jean-Luc du Preez, Thomas du Toit and Joseph Dweba will all fall in if they’re required.
“But, after Friday, they go back to their clubs.”
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