“We joked in the week about it, my first kick is probably going to be in the corner and it was! You follow your normal routine, you do your thing,” Pollard said.
“Like Manie [Libbok] kicked extremely well when he came on. I think it’s a great thing as a kicking unit. There has been a lot of heat on us for that but after [Sunday] we can take this forward with a lot of confidence.”
His well-publicised return as squad replacement for hooker Malcolm Marx invited much conjecture. That was especially so against a backdrop of the Boks struggling off the kicking tee in his absence.
Pollard made the point he was able to shut out all the noise by focusing on the things he needed to do. He admitted, though, being on the sidelines was difficult.
“It has been a crazy rollercoaster. There have been extreme lows, of course, early on and extreme highs to get recalled. So really just great to be back in the environment with the boys. Hopefully contribute as much as I can in whatever role that may be, I am just here to help the team succeed and I am excited.
“I enjoyed it very much, it was so much fun. Just on a personal note it was nice to play again and I enjoyed myself out there,” he said about his performance.
