BROWN'S MISSION: To get Pollard to dominate the gain-line again

Even with double World Cup winners there is always scope for improvement.

New Springbok attack coach Tony Brown may have only been in the job for a few weeks, but he has already targeted specific aspects of the Bok attack that need to improve, and which he wants to make better.

Brown has arrived with a reputation of being a lateral thinker, someone who managed to find space for players on his outside when he played, and now as a coach follows a philosophy of someone who loves to see the flashier side of the game dominate.

Take Handre Pollard for instance. Few people would even think of trying to improve Pollard’s game at the Boks.

After all, he is Mr Ice-in-the-veins, that clutch player that stepped up to the plate in France last year and slotted penalty after penalty in razor thin tense matches to see the Boks home. Pollard’s calmness under fire, his penchant for kicking bombs through the uprights when they were really needed, was a massive part of the Boks’ win in France.

But Brown believes there is scope for improvement. And specifically on attack.

The New Zealander referred back to when Pollard burst onto the scene in a glorious month where he led the SA under-20 side to the final of the Under-20 Junior World Championship and made his Springbok debut some four weeks later.

The young Pollard was a sensation, one that created havoc with defences with his show and go, and one who was masterful in getting his backline going.

That’s not saying he isn’t the same player, but thanks to two knee operations, and playing in the northern hemisphere fulltime, the Bok pivot has at times tended to sit in the pocket and dominate with the boot.

Brown wants that to change, and believes one of the things he can contribute to Springbok rugby is to make Pollard the world’s best flyhalf again - dominant with the boot and with ball in hand.

“It has been really good, it has been a bit different for them, trying some new things and getting them to look at the game a bit differently. Handre is a bit older, been around a long time and I’m hoping with a bit more time we can build quite a good partnership and get him playing some exciting rugby,” he explained at his first press conference ahead of the Irish series.

“When I was watching him as an under-20s player, he was probably the most dominant player on the gainline as an under-20s player. If we can get him back to that sort of footie, it would be amazing.”

Brown said the other flyhalves in the squad, Manie Libbok, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Jordan Hendrikse “play the game a bit differently” and he was looking forward to building a strong partnership with them in the weeks to come.

“Guys like Manie, Sacha and Jordan, they play the game a bit differently. Just understanding them as players and them understanding me as coach is only going to develop over time. The best thing from my point of view is that they’ve all got amazing skill sets and they can all push themselves to be better rugby players.

“It is exciting for me and hopefully it is exciting for them to get coached a different way.”

Brown also has some lofty goals for his time with the Boks, and while there are few that will question how well the Boks have attacked over the course of the last two years, he also believes they can be better. And that they will need to be better if they are to dominate World Rugby in the lead-up to the World Cup in Australia in four years time.

“Short term, we want to attack a lot better than we have previously. That’s my job - to create a style that these boys can play really really well. And the game changes so fast - my job is to try and find a competitive edge that keeps the Springboks at the top of the world and that, in four years time, is able to win three World Cups in a row,” he smiles.

Goalkicking is a massive talking point, not only after the last World Cup but also because it was one of the reasons the Boks lost their last two games against Ireland - first in 2022 when Damian Willemse struggled at the tee, and then with Manie Libbok in the World Cup match that Ireland won.

Brown has been working with them and believes while Libbok’s nerves may still be a factor at times, there is a lot of light at the end of the tunnel.

“They’re all confident goalkickers - Manie has had a few issues in recent times, when he practices he is a quality goalkicker and it is just a matter of him getting a bit more comfortable on the big stage. I’m sure he can fix that pretty quickly.

“The other two boys are pretty good.”