Former Bok coach hails role of double World Cup winner Handre Pollard

Man of the Match Handre Pollard was the talisman that controlled the game and ultimately earned the Boks their revenge over a competitive Wallaby side in Cape Town on Saturday.  

The double World Cup winner kicked six from six off the tee, and his astute boot backed up the Boks' territorial game plan that saw them earn their first 2025 Rugby Championship win.

Mallet hailed Pollard's performance, but added that the talented Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Manie Libbok still have a role to play in the Boks' future.

"So just going forward, looking ahead, the safety net is Pollard and the territorial game, the scrumming, the lineouts and the driving maul and the incredibly physical defence," Mallett told the Talking Boks podcast.

"That's our safety net. We're very good at that, but to suffocate teams and put them under the pressure that we did in the first 20 minutes, you have to know when to play with the backs and when to give it to your forwards to get the momentum.

"And I think that's something we're still trying. We're still battling. We either go from one way of playing, which is the Manie Libbok and perhaps Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu [way], which is, let's have a crack at everything.

"Or else we have the Pollard game, which is, let's kick everything and occasionally pass the ball.

"So it's a blend of those two that I think we were looking for and only experience is going to give it to us."

The third round of the Rugby Championship resumes on 6 September, when the Boks play the All Blacks at Eden Park.