Bring on the physicality, we won't stand back – Pollard

Bring it on.

That’s the message from new Springbok captain Handre Pollard after Wales reiterated they would continue their physical approach to get under the South African players’ skins ahead of the second test in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

Pollard said he understood why Welsh captain Dan Biggar was so vocal about it, and why the Welsh were trying to be aggressive in every facet of the game, often allowing the game to spill over into tiffs between players.

But the bottom line, he said, was that South African players enjoy it when it gets rough, and they weren’t about to take a step back.

“I understand it completely. If they are going come here and just let us have our way, it isn’t going to go their way. So I understand it completely. They are going to try and get under our skins and get us off our task but we are South Africans, we enjoy that,” Pollard said.

“It brings out the best in us - having our backs against the wall and having someone trying to get under our skin. I understand why they are doing it and we will be up for it, but there is no way we are taking a step back.”

Pollard said that while some, like Welsh great Sir Gareth Edwards, have accused the Boks of disrespecting the Welsh with the 14 changes to the team for the second test, they were wrong.

“I shrug it off, to be honest, don’t care much about it, because people are wrong. There are guys who have more experience that played last week, but in terms of class there isn’t really much difference between then and this week,” Pollard said, adding that the players had all earned the right to put on the Springbok jersey.

“We have a few new faces in the squad, but it is guys who have earned their spots through playing well for their clubs all season. That’s the nice thing about how we do things here, we reward people for playing well.

“It’s going to be really exciting to see what they can do on the field, but we have enough experience to handle whatever comes our way. We know Wales are going to try and get in our faces and under our skins, they’ve been very open about it and made it very clear in the first test match.

“But that is something we enjoy and we are all for that, they can come at us, but we won’t take a step back.”

While there may be nerves and a bit of a lack of cohesion in the squad, Pollard was adamant that the team would trust each other's skillsets in order to get the best out of the side.

“Last week Monday we already knew this was going to be the plan, so we already trained last week preparing the guys for last week’s test match. This is going to be our second week and in the last two weeks, there has been a lot more cohesion.

“Of course, there is going to be disconnection sometimes, there are guys who are coming in from all over the world. But we are prepared for that, we are going to be bold in the way we want to play, we have got each others backs. We have to trust each others’ skillsets - there are guys in this side with unbelievable skillsets.

“As game driver, I’ve got to give those guys opportunities to express themselves. I do feel we are very well aligned and are ready for it.”

He did, however, caution that while it was good to have the attacking weapons such as Kurt-Lee Arendse and Aphelele Fassi in the team, this was still test rugby and a lack of respect for the process could backfire on the Boks.

“It’s unreal to have weapons like that outside but it is also a dangerous trap to fall in if you just want to shift the ball around. This is test match rugby and we are playing against a very disciplined side, a dangerous side.

“We have to put in the hard yards first. It isn’t going to open up from minute one and if it eventually does and we can create some space for those guys on the outside, and give them a little bit of space with a one-on-one, then that is our job.

“But first we are going to try and take it the normal route and get as physical as possible.”

The test kicks off at 5pm and is live on SuperSport.