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Cape Town - Former Springbok coach Nick Mallett is worried about the kicking performance of Springbok flyhalf Handre Pollard.
Pollard struggled with his tactical and goal-kicking during the Springboks 46-10 win over the World XV at Newlands on Saturday.
The game was played in conditions similar to what the Boks will encounter at the Rugby World Cup in England later this year and this aspect of the flyhalf’s game worried Mallett.
“There was one disappointing aspect of this game. It was played in northern hemisphere-type conditions, and I was a bit disappointed with Handre Pollard's kicking performance,” Mallett said in the SuperSport studio afterwards.
“Going into a World Cup, you would want your flyhalf to have a 75% goal-kicking success rate. He had some difficult goal kicks but you would want him to kick better than that (3 out of 7). There were also two charge-down kicks, which could be very costly in a World Cup.”
Mallett though did highlight impressive performances by some Springbok players.
“I thought the World XV performed really well and took it to the Springboks. It was very good preparation for the Boks going into the Australia Test (in Brisbane) and I think they can be very happy with their performance. We can now look forward to next weekend's game with a bit of confidence.
“Damian de Allende played well, Willie le Roux had a great game, Eben Etzebeth was outstanding, Jesse Kriel was great and so was Marcell Coetzee. And then the guys who came on in the second half... Vincent Koch had an outstanding 30 minutes, Schalk Burger was exceptional and it was lovely to see Jean de Villiers and Cobus Reinach back from injury.”
