It will require someone to be injured seriously enough to be sent home in order for it to happen, but the chances of Handre Pollard playing a role at the Rugby World Cup in France have been significantly strengthened by the progress he has made in his injury rehabilitation.
Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber confirmed in the online team announcement press conference from London on Monday that Pollard will join fellow 2019 World Cup winner Lukhanyo Am in returning to his club after Friday night’s warmup game against the All Blacks at Twickenham, but then he added a caveat - he will go to his club ‘if’ there are no injuries.
Pollard was left out of the 33-man World Cup squad when it was announced two weeks ago on the grounds that he hadn’t recovered from injury and would not have been available to play were the Boks playing a game that weekend. However, Pollard has recovered well enough since then to be considered to be on the cusp of playing should he be required to do so.
“Handre is on the edge now of being fully fit, he just needs a lot of fitness work and he will be ready,” said Nienaber.
“Let me put it this way, Handre is now on a return-to-play protocol. Which means he is on his way back to being ready to play. I would say he is about a week away from being ready to play. Siya (Kolisi) is past his return to play protocol now but in his case it is still qualified in the sense that his workload must be managed like it was this last weekend, where he played 40 minutes.”
Nienaber said Kolisi would play 50 to 60 minutes this week depending on the medical advice as he continues his incremental buildup of game time ahead of the World Cup kick-off against Scotland in Marseille on 10 September.
Not quite in the same space at the moment as Pollard but also likely to soon be ready to return, again with the important point needing to be made that there has to be an injury that forces another player to fly home in order for it to happen, is centre Am.
“Lukhanyo is currently two away from being fit. He is in a return to train protocol at present as opposed to a return to play protocol,” said Nienaber.
'IF THERE ARE NO INJURIES'
Am and Pollard were among a group of five players added to the 33-man squad for the period covering the two warmup games on British soil. They watched from the sidelines as the Boks trounced a young Wales team in Cardiff last weekend and will do so again when the opponents are the All Blacks at Twickenham on Friday. After that they will leave the group.
“The other five players, and that includes Lukhanyo and Handre, will return to their clubs after Friday’s game,” confirmed the Bok coach.
Again though there was the ‘if’ that hung in the air, as in "if there are no injuries" in Friday’s game. Expecting either of them to face Scotland might be stretching it, but given that the World Cup final is still 10 weeks away, and that rugby is a physical contact sport with a high attrition rate, the smart money should be on both Am and Pollard being involved in the global showpiece event at some point.