Pollard's perfect Springbok opportunity to prove he can still compete with the youngsters

The Springbok midfield set to take the field against Italy on Saturday offers an exciting glimpse into the future — and don’t discount the man tasked with directing play at flyhalf in Turin.

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus confirmed in a television interview ahead of the clash with France that he intended to recall Handre Pollard at flyhalf, while testing a youthful midfield pairing of Ethan Hooker and Canan Moodie. Scrumhalf Morne van den Berg will also get an opportunity to showcase his skills.

With Erasmus able to plan without recourse to panic selections following the positive result in Paris, Pollard will marshal a backline featuring Hooker and Moodie in the midfield, and a daring back three of Edwill van der Merwe, Kurt-Lee Arendse, and Damian Willemse. For rugby fans, this is a backline that feels like a gift from the rugby gods — and they wouldn’t be wrong.

Hooker is widely known as an exceptional left wing for both the Sharks and the Springboks. Yet, until last year, when he broke into the Sharks senior team, he had always been an inside centre — both at Westville in Durban and for the age-group national sides.

Hooker was recruited straight out of high school, but his path at No 12 was blocked by the formidable Andre Esterhuizen. At Springbok level, both Hooker and Esterhuizen are behind the exceptional Damian de Allende, who is just five caps short of 100 for the Boks.

However, the landscape is changing. De Allende will turn 36 before the 2027 World Cup in Australia, while Jesse Kriel, despite immaculate fitness, is 33. The athletic Moodie, just 23 but already with 20 caps, is staking a claim to be the next long-term option in midfield.

Moving inward to flyhalf, this weekend represents a significant moment for Pollard. No other team in world rugby enjoys the depth at flyhalf that the Springboks possess.

Pollard is the only flyhalf in history to be on the field when the final whistle confirmed back-to-back World Cup victories — a feat Dan Carter missed due to injury in 2015.

Yet Pollard has been outside the matchday 23 for the last five Springbok fixtures, with Sacha Feinberg Mngomezulu and Manie Libbok preferred under attack coach Tony Brown’s vision.

With Feinberg Mngomezulu expected to be rested completely against Italy, and Libbok sharing flyhalf duties with Pollard, this match provides the perfect platform for Pollard to demonstrate his ability to inject adventure and creativity into the backline.

With Hooker, Moodie, Arendse, Van der Merwe, and Willemse outside him, and Van den Berg feeding him from scrumhalf, Pollard has an exceptional opportunity to show that he can match — and perhaps even exceed — what his contemporaries have offered. If he seizes it, he can firmly stake his claim as the Springboks’ premier flyhalf heading into the next World Cup cycle.