Handre Pollard floored twice in one minute by same All Black
There were not many things on Saturday at the Mbombela Stadium for All Blacks fans to get excited about. In fact, there were probably only two things. One was Beauden Barrett’s break from behind his try line in the first half, and the other was Caleb Clarke’s break leading to Shannon Frizell’s try late in the second half.
Unfortunately for the All Blacks, they were only a couple of minutes in what was otherwise a match in which they were completely dominated by the Springboks, losing 26-10.
Nonetheless, the All Blacks’ sole try was pretty impressive, but was a period of play that Springboks fly-half Handre Pollard will want to forget. This is because he was floored twice in the space of a minute, by Frizell both times.
The first occasion came as Damian de Allende was dragging the flanker down, Pollard joined to assist the tackle but was unceremoniously thrown back onto his backside by the Kiwi. One phase later Clarke was making his break downfield, where Frizell picked it up five metres from the line. Pollard pounced on him again but suffered the safe fate as the Highlander ran over him on the way to the try line.
This was not a good minute for Pollard in what was an impressive display from the Leicester Tigers bound No10 elsewhere on the pitch, where he kicked 16 points and ensured the Boks had complete territorial dominance over their rivals. South Africa host the All Blacks again this Saturday at Ellis Park and will be hoping to make a clean sweep over the reigning Rugby Championship winners and only compound their misery further. Another loss would make it four on the bounce for the All Blacks, and would mean they have lost six of their last seven matches.
Take a look at the passage of play:
