Ben Youngs and Anthony Watson are pushing back against the narrative that Pollard is a 'steady Eddie' winding down his Test career. Speaking on the For The Love Of Rugby podcast, the pair — who trained alongside Pollard at Leicester — argue he remains a genuinely distinct tactical option for Erasmus, not simply a safe pair of hands. Watson's point is structural: with Libbok and Feinberg-Mngomezulu playing similar high-variance styles, Pollard offers something neither can — a calming, pragmatic reset that the experienced Bok backline can slot into seamlessly. Youngs goes further, calling Pollard's catch-pass release the best he's ever seen at any level, including Lions tours.
With Thursday's selection for the Ellis Park opener against the All Blacks looming and Libbok reportedly the frontrunner, the piece frames Pollard's reduced role as a classic underappreciation story — the longer you've been there, the more fans overlook what you still bring. Both Youngs and Watson land on the same position: Feinberg-Mngomezulu to start, Pollard as the bench contrast, with Libbok and SFM too similar to justify both. It's a well-argued external perspective on a selection debate Bok fans are already having — and worth reading ahead of Thursday's announcement.