Handre Pollard’s semi-final kicking blip is seen as a minor issue by the Bulls coach and captain, who are backing him to respond in Friday night’s final.
That was the view from Bulls coach Johan Ackermann and captain Marcell Coetzee as the men from Pretoria prepare for Friday night’s blockbuster URC Grand Final against Leinster in Dublin.
The Bulls were responding to questions about Pollard’s goalkicking form after the double World Cup-winning Bok flyhalf missed three relatively straightforward kicks at goal within a 10-minute period in the second of their semi-final against Glasgow Warriors.
Ultimately, Pollard’s errant boot did not cost his side, who managed to hang on for a 22-21 win despite those nine missed points, and the Bulls have every faith in their flyhalf to turn things around in the final.
“Handré was the first guy after the game to acknowledge it,” said Coetzee. “I know he would have taken that personally and looked to rectify it.
“But if you take that away and look at everything else he did on the field, he was brilliant.
“He covered a lot of kicks for us, put us in the right areas of the field and directed the team brilliantly.”
Noticably, Pollard’s shoulders never dropped after those missed kicks, and it’s that kind of calmness under pressure that the Bulls will be leaning on again on Friday night.
“Sometimes we focus only on one aspect of a player’s game, but Handre is huge for this team and just the calmness he brings,” Coetzee added.
“I’m actually glad he had [his off day] in the semis and hopefully it’s a turnaround in the final.”
Coach Johan Ackermann also made it clear that he wasn’t too concerned about his flyhalf’s form.
“Every golfer has a bad round somewhere along the line,” he quipped. “Hopefully Handre had his bad round last time and tomorrow he’s back on song.”
Looking ahead to the match, Ackermann called on his players to match Leinster’s early intensity, with the Irish outfit sure to try and impose themselves straight from the kick-off as they did in last year’s final.
“We have to be much more accurate than we’ve been,” Ackermann said on Thursday. “We have to match Leinster’s intensity at the start.”
Coetzee added: “In last season’s final, they started very, very well and that helped their momentum throughout the game,” he said. “We went out of structure once the pressure started mounting.
“This is a new final and a new opportunity, but we learned from that experience.”
Friday night’s final kicks off at 8:30pm.
