Pollard is the real deal

There's an arbitrary moment in the career of every player of promise when he unwittingly drops a hint as to his pending greatness.

In Handre Pollard's case it could have been his first touch in Super rugby, when he went with a pre-meditated inside break and scored against the Hurricanes while touring Australasia with the Bulls.

It could also have been the Baby Boks's flyhalf and captain's combative reaction to gifting the Cheetahs an early intercept try in his first start for the Bulls at Loftus.

But for me it was an innocuous moment ahead of the Baby Boks' opener against Scotland a few weeks ago. While waiting in the tunnel to get onto the field, Pollard's counterpart, Tommy Spinks, was so psyched up he was frothing at the mouth.

Pollard chose that foreboding moment to stick out his hand and greet the young Scot like a long-lost friend. It didn't look like a deliberate piece of gamesmanship, but it had the same effect, as it took the wind out of Spinks's puffed-up chest.

Rugby comes so naturally to the 20-year-old flyhalf that it holds no fear for him regardless of the level.

In a country in which young flyhalves have been crippled by the weight of expectation, it's not a bad trait.

Blame it on Naas or Joel, we tend to put our flyhalves on a pedestal. Other countries put out 15 players to play a Test match, we offer 14 and a flyhalf.

As a result, young New Zealand flyhalves thrive because they are treated as just another player who has to master his core skills in a team, while South Africa's wilt under the pressure of having to be the Messiah.

We also pull in different directions in terms of the expectations we have of stand-offs.

Some like them to kick the brown stuff out of the ball like Marnitz Boshoff, who has been known to declare his intent in a game by rifling an early dropped-goal from inside the opposition's 22.

Others like their flyhalf to run everything, delivering most of his passes out of the back of his hand and chipping with the outside of his boot like Elton Jantjies.

No one player can live up to both approaches, so we get frustrated kids trying to be something they aren't.

But in Pollard's case we all seem to agree: he's the nearest thing to a combination of the two, and we may have finally arrived at a universal favourite to ultimately replace our imperfect 10s at Springbok level.

Morné Steyn needs Fourie du Preez to play well; Pat Lambie doesn't quite do it for the coach; Johan Goosen breaks down more often than a second-hand Alfa, and the system is relieved that Jantjies has no Garmin to reunite him with his mojo.

Pollard, on the other hand - all 1.90m and 97kg of him - can run, pass, kick, chip and intercept, as the games at the tournament have taken turns giving us glimpses of his outrageous ability.

But his greatest talent is that he never looks rushed.

Former F1 driver Martin Brundle says world champions use about 70% of their capacity to drive the car and the remainder to deal with factors like what their opponents are doing, while others need about 80% to drive.

Pollard is similar in that he can focus on what he is supposed to be doing and influence what others are doing.

Recently, the Sunday Times ran a story suggesting Pollard could be a bolter for the Springboks' World Cup squad. He might be a more integral part by next year.