Bulls coach and captain alike backed Handré Pollard to bounce back in the URC final.
Bulls flyhalf Handré Pollard is expected to bounce back from a poor performance off the tee in the semi-final, where he missed four of his seven kicks at goal. Picture: Mark Kavanagh/Sportsfile via Getty Images
While the Bulls say flyhalf Handré Pollard’s contribution goes beyond his goal-kicking, they hope he will bounce back from a poor performance off the tee in their URC semi-final when they face Leinster in the final at Croke Park.
The Bulls take on Leinster in Dublin on Friday (kick-off 8.30pm) after fighting back from 21-3 down to beat Glasgow Warriors 22-21 in their Edinburgh semi-final two weekends ago.
There, the Springbok ace, whose longstanding dependability in front of goal was underlined by his 13 successful kicks from 13 attempts at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, only slotted three of his seven attempts for a well-below par 43% success rate.
That, coming from seven out of eight (87.5%) in the quarter-final against Munster.
‘A bad round’
The Glasgow showing included three consecutive penalty misses – two dragged wide and one bouncing back off the posts.
The Bulls were narrowly holding the lead 22-21 at the time and the kicks would have put the game to bed. In the end, the Bulls had to weather a few Munster attacks and turn the ball over at the end to hold onto the win.
Head coach Johan Ackermann said afterwards that thankfully the kicks did not affect the result, and they could smile afterwards. One poor game did not make Pollard a bad player.
On the eve of the final, he said, “Every golfer’s got a bad round day somewhere. So hopefully he had his last week and tomorrow [today] he’s on song.”
Bulls back Pollard to improve
Bulls captain Marcell Coetzee said that Pollard would be the first player who would admit he needed to improve in that area.
“But if you take that away, what he did on the field as well, he covered a lot of kick for us, he put us in the right direction.
“It’s funny how we sometimes just focus on that main strength with him sometimes. But he’s huge for the team, and his calmness, and how he points us in the right direction.”
Coetzee said Pollard would have taken the poor goal-kicking performance personally, and would want to rectify it.
“So I’m actually glad it happened in the semis, and hopefully it’s a turnaround in the final then.”
Bulls to enjoy the game too
Coetzee added that though this will be the Bulls’ fourth final in five years, they are not dwelling on past failings. Rather, they have learned from them.
“In all of those finals, there were certain things that we didn’t get right. The set-piece may not have functioned that day, we lost the collision battles, the kicking game, and discipline. You can mention all that stuff.
“But I think the biggest thing is to seize the big moments when they come. But saying that, the enjoyment factor must never fade.
“This is what we’ve dreamed of since we’ve been playing this game, since we’ve been playing rugby in the backyard.”
