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Pollard in fitness race

Pretoria - All eyes may be on Super Rugby at the moment, but the Blue Bulls’ Currie Cup campaign was dealt a blow with the news that Junior Boks flyhalf Handré Pollard has injured himself at practice on Tuesday.

The supersport.com website reports that with the Currie Cup set to start in five weeks time, Pollard hurt his AC joint and has been ruled out for between four to six weeks, but the Bulls medical staff are hopeful that he will be ready in time for the start of the competition.

Pollard, who was one of the star’s in the 2012 champion Junior Boks’ team that won the IRB Junior World Championship, is set to get an extended run in the Currie Cup as he continues his rugby development and with Springbok Morné Steyn heading to France and back-up Louis Fouche out for six months with injury, a lot of responsibility will fall on the youngster’s shoulders.

But there was a scare with the injury as with both Steyn and Fouche gone, there are few other options for the Bulls in the pivot position in terms of experience.

Other than Pollard, there is also Tony Jantjies and Willie du Plessis, both players who have excelled at Junior and Varsity Cup level and who are likely to see some action during the tournament.

Also good news is that the Bulls have decided to let the experiment to play Pollard at 12 go, and for the foreseeable future the youngster will be able to concentrate on playing on flyhalf and not at centre.

Pollard endured an unhappy IRB Junior World Championship this year as he was moved between the two positions after playing for most of the Varsity Cup at 12.

But he is known to prefer the number 10 jersey and will now be given ample chance to play there once he returns to fitness.

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