Springboks confirm Handre Pollard to join squad at Rugby World Cup

Handre Pollard has been confirmed as South Africa's replacement for the injured Malcolm Marx in their 2023 Rugby World Cup squad. 

SA Rugby confirmed the decision after their 76-0 win over Romania in Bordeaux on Sunday. 

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Pollard will join the national team in Paris on Monday after he played for his English club Leicester against Sale Sharks on Friday, showing he has fully recovered from the calf injury that ruled him out of the initial 33-man squad. 

Pollard had been with the Bok squad for their final two warm-up games against Wales and the All Blacks in August.

"We are confident with the cover we have at hooker with Bongi Mbonambi and Deon Fourie, and Marco van Staden has been slotting in the position since our alignment camps in February, so we opted to call up Handre, who has been in our system for years and who was a member of our team in 2019 when we won the World Cup," coach Jacques Nienaber explained.  

"He’s been working hard to return to full fitness, and we are pleased that he now has some game time under his belt for his club, and this will allow him to slot back into the team.

"We’ll work closely with him in the next week to get him back up to speed and back into the full swing of things, and we have no doubt he’ll step up to the challenge. He’s been here before so he knows the physical and mental demands of the World Cup." 

The Springboks will now make the journey from Bordeaux to Paris on Monday where they will begin their preparations for Saturday’s round-three RWC clash against Ireland.