Handré Pollard back for Boks but Manie Libbok hasn’t gone anywhere

He did not strike the ball cleanly at all in warm-up, which made Springbok flyhalf Handré Pollard doubly delighted he landed all four conversions he was asked to take against Tonga at Stade Vélodrome on Sunday night.

Pollard, who made his long-awaited return to the team after a 13-month absence, played with familiar confidence and authority for the 50 minutes he was on the field in the Springboks' 49-18 win in their last game in pool B.

“We joked in the week about it, my first kick is probably going to be in the corner and it was! You follow your normal routine, you do your thing,” Pollard said.

“Like Manie [Libbok] kicked extremely well when he came on. I think it's a great thing as a kicking unit. There has been a lot of heat on us for that but after [Sunday] we can take this forward with a lot of confidence.”

His well-publicised return as squad replacement for hooker Malcolm Marx invited much conjecture. That was especially so against a backdrop of the Boks struggling off the kicking tee in his absence.

Pollard made the point he was able to shut out all the noise by focusing on the things he needed to do. He admitted, though, being on the sidelines was difficult.

“It has been a crazy rollercoaster. There have been extreme lows, of course, early on and extreme highs to get recalled. So really just great to be back in the environment with the boys. Hopefully contribute as much as I can in whatever role that may be, I am just here to help the team succeed and I am excited.

“I enjoyed it very much, it was so much fun. Just on a personal note it was nice to play again and I enjoyed myself out there,” he said about his performance.

Libbok, too, played with confidence, crucially with hand and foot.

“I fell off my kicks, that’s why I pulled most of the kicks. I worked on that and I’m just happy that it came off,” Libbok explained about his lack of accuracy in previous matches.

“I kicked the same, I didn’t change anything in terms of speeding up my process.”

He explained he had worked hard on his kicking over the last few weeks. “I’m just happy it came off nicely [against Tonga]. Handré also kicked very well.

“In everything, we work together. Handré is a world-class flyhalf and player. I’ve learnt a lot from him, he helped me a lot in terms of the game itself. For me it’s nice to work with him and learn from the best.”

The Boks will also be pleased that another much-mooted element of their game, the back-up hooker position, now appears less of a talking point.

Deon Fourie, who saw the most game time in that position since 2018, was rather pleased to walk off with the man-of-the-match award. He admitted though, having not played a full game almost caught up with him.

“I haven’t played 80 minutes in a long time, so probably have to do a bit more fitness. I was quite tired on 65 minutes, I didn’t see how I was going to finish this off with 15 minutes to go.”

While he stood out in the tight loose his line-out throwing was also from the top drawer. “I was way more relaxed than the last two games. Romania gave me a bit of confidence, and especially Ireland with that last throw.

“I know Marvin Orie from the Stormers, we played two years together so our synchronisation worked well. I think I just lost one line-out tonight, so that definitely gives me confidence.”