Willie le Roux has hailed his long-time playing pal Handré Pollard as “a proper trooper” and “a general.”
The Springboks duo go back a long way, having been team-mates on the international stage for more than a decade.
Now they are together on the domestic front for the first time with fly-half Pollard having made the move from Leicester to join full-back Le Roux at the Vodacom Bulls this season.
They shared in a 19-17 comeback victory away to Edinburgh Rugby last Friday night and they are now setting their sights on this weekend’s all-South African clash with the Lions in Johannesburg.
Pollard played a significant part in the win over Edinburgh at the Hive Stadium, slotting a couple of shots at goal and helping provide the territorial foothold as the Bulls turned around a 17-5 half-time deficit.
Le Roux knows him better than most and is full of praise for the 31-year-old playmaker.
“He’s my room-mate, he’s a very relaxed guy. There’s not a lot of things that bother him,” he said.
“We have been playing together since 2014. It’s been a long time, so we understand each other.
“What a guy to have in your team, a proper trooper and a general.”
Outlining Pollard’s contribution to the win over Edinburgh, Le Roux said: “It was tough conditions to play in. You want to run the ball around a bit back home in Loftus, but coming here you have to play a bit of a different ball game. It helped us a lot to stay in the right areas in the second half.”
Giving his own thoughts on the triumph in Scotland, Pollard said: “We weren’t great in the first-half, we weren’t as accurate as we wanted to be, we were pretty static.
“We had a good chat at half-time. We said we have got some big boys, so let’s focus on the carries and get some momentum.
“We just said we were going to have a good crack at it and we did.”
The 85-cap Pollard spent six years with the Bulls before having three season spells in both France and England, with Montpellier and Leicester.
Now he is back in Pretoria and looking to help the team climb the league table.
“We had a few disruptions coaching wise throughout the start of the season, which is always difficult to control, but we are starting to bond as a group now and the fight shows in our game,” he said.
“There is a long way to go. We are not nearly as good as we want to be, but it’s a step in the right direction and hopefully we can build on this.”
The Bulls had only won three of their first 11 games in all competitions this season, but over the past two weeks they have claimed back-to-back victories on the road.
First they beat Pau 26-24 in France to book a place in the last 16 of the Investec Champions Cup, with Pollard landing three shots at goal.
Then came the win away to Edinburgh which has lifted them up to ninth in the BKT URC table with a game in hand on a number of the teams above them.
It’s a double success which has come as welcome news for head coach Johan Ackermann who took over from Jake White last summer, returning to the club where he began his playing career.
“I am very pleased, mostly pleased with the character of the players because we were obviously under pressure when we came over to Europe,” said the former Springboks second row.
“It is tough to go on tour. We all know that. But for us to get out of South Africa, to get together as a group, was actually the perfect timing for us.
“The team is at a stage where there are a lot of young kids, a lot of new borns and one and two year olds.
“I am still new and learning every player’s character and how they deal with stuff. You’ve got selection and non selected players that you have to keep happy, so it was a good time for us to spend time with each other.”
Reflecting on the recent change of fortunes for the team, he said: “That’s the beauty of our game. It can turn quickly around.
“It’s only two wins. There’s still a lot of work to be done to make it successful, so we don’t want to get carried away, but it is a great turnaround from the players and I am pleased for them.”
Looking ahead to Saturday’s Round 11 showdown with the Lions, Ackermann said: “That’s going to be massive.
“They are obviously a quality side. Us South African teams, we know each other in and out and have all got the same strengths.
“We will manage the players during the week and get them up for a big challenge at Ellis Park.”
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