Pollard closing in on special Springbok record

Handre Pollard may have seen his role change in recent Test matches, but he is still just a few points away from a special Springbok record.

Springbok flyhalf Handre Pollard has closed the gap on second-placed Morne Steyn in the list of Springbok Test points scorers. Image: Gerhard Duraan / BackpagePix

At least to some degree, Handre Pollard has somewhat surprisingly conceded the No 10 jersey to young Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu – for now – as the Springboks look to expand their depth in various positions.

Pollard has still been a regular member of the matchday 23, but so far in 2024 he has started two Tests and played off the bench in a couple of others.

Against the All Blacks this Saturday he will again form part of the ‘bomb squad’, but it shouldn’t be forgotten that he needs just nine points to overtake Morne Steyn (742 points) and move into second place on the Springbok all-time scorers’ list.

Percy Montgomery leads with 893 points.

Below you can see where Pollard stands in the Springbok record books:

Springbok record against New Zealand:
Played: 106, Won: 40. Lost: 62, Drawn: 4. Points for: 1 741; Points against: 2 196; Tries scored: 168; Tries conceded: 240. Win %: 37.7%.

Miscellaneous:

Frans Malherbe will extend his number of starts at tighthead prop to 61 Tests, trailing only Tendai Mtawarira (102) and Os du Randt (75).
The centre pairing of Jesse Kriel and Damian de Allende will extend their record of playing the most Test matches together in the midfield to 32 (the previous record was held by Jean de Villiers and Jaque Fourie with 29 Tests).
Handre Pollard needs one conversion to become only the third Springbok to kick 100 two-pointers after Morne Steyn (102) and Percy Montgomery (153).
Handre Pollard needs nine points to overtake Morne Steyn (742 points) and move into second place on the Springbok all-time scorers’ list. Percy Montgomery leads with 893 points.
Should Malcolm Marx score a try he will move to 20 and into tenth equal place on the all-time Springbok try-scoring list with James Small. He is already the leading Springbok forward try scorer.
Cheslin Kolbe needs four points to reach 100 points in Tests for South Africa.
Should Kwagga Smith take the field, he will need only four more Test caps to join the club of Springboks with 50 Test caps.
The total Test caps for the Springbok starting line-up is 632.
There are 255 caps in the backline, with 377 caps among the forwards. On the bench there are a further 286 caps.
The average caps per player in the backline is 36, the forwards 47, while the players on the bench average 35.