Handre Pollard eager to embrace Tony Brown's fresh approach to Springbok attack

Following the departure of Jacques Nienaber and Felix Jones after the 2023 Rugby World Cup, Rassie Erasmus took over as head coach of the Springboks for a second tenure and wasted little time in turning to Brown, a former All Blacks flyhalf who has coached in Super Rugby and with the Japan national team.

Brown is held in high regard worldwide after his success with the Highlanders and Japan and had Jamie Joseph got the All Blacks job, the former playmaker would be filling the same role in New Zealand.

With South Africa often criticised for not being as creative on attack as some of their opponents despite the wealth of talent available to them, the New Zealander has been recruited to rectify that outlook and make the Boks a more rounded threat with the ball in hand.

Speaking ahead of the Springboks' first Test match against Ireland, Brown focused on the squad's flyhalves, particularly Pollard, whom he has admired since his youth career.

As far as the New Zealander is concerned, Pollard has all the necessary attributes to be a dominant attacking force.

"When I watched him (Pollard) play U20, he was the most dominant flyhalf on the gainline in the world," he said.

"If we can get back to that same style of rugby, that would be amazing."

While Pollard did not read about Brown's comments about him, the 30-year-old said that the New Zealander has already made an impact on the squad and is willing to follow his lead on attack.

"I actually haven't seen that," Pollard said when asked about Brown's comments. "I don't read much, but that sounds good. I have really enjoyed Tony, he's been a real breath of fresh air for us.

"We were really privileged to have Felix in the past; he was brilliant, and Tony just thinks about the game a little bit differently and, ofcourse, has experience from all over the world, so we've enjoyed him a lot since he's come in.

"If that [me playing more direct] gets us going at the line a bit more and playing with more on the gain line, great, but again, we've got our plans for this weekend, and we'll just try and stick to that.

As mentioned above, Brown worked with the Highlanders and Japan before linking up with the Springboks, enjoying success with both outfits.

During his time with the Brave Blossoms, the side's attack played a major role in reaching the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals for the first time.

While Pollard was not willing to dive deep into Brown's attacking philosophy, he did say that his success with teams that don't win the gainline as easily as the Springboks would be massive asset for the side and means he has a different outlook on the game.

"With the background that he has in the teams he's coached in the past, he's probably had to look for space in a different way than we are used to," the Springbok number ten added.

"We are used to relying on our strength and physicality to get us gain line. He sees it a bit differently, and I think as a group, we're at a point now where we can start using a bit more of our skill set and not just be one-dimensional.

"We are never going to go away from being a direct team, but the way he sees space and the way he sees our guys using our strengths in a way that we can create more space for our outside backs is exciting.

"Again, good defences like Ireland, that's not always going to be the case, but if we can create but if we can create a couple more opportunities for our outside backs, it's a win for us."

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