Handre Pollard admitted that the Stormers’ children made it troublesome for Leicester Tigers to execute their plan within the opening-round Champions Cup conflict at Welford Highway.
The Stormers, with out a host of Springboks and star gamers left in Cape City to organize for the house match towards defending champions La Rochelle, got here inside three minutes of securing a shocking end result after taking a shock 17-10 lead at half-time in Leicester.
EURO CUPS: SA groups bolt out of the blocks
It was solely a 23-point haul from Pollard, who despatched wing Josh Bassett over for the bonus-point attempt within the closing play of the match, that secured the Tigers a 35-26 victory and denied the guests a deserved shedding bonus level.
“It wasn’t a really perfect first 40 for us; credit score to the Stormers although, they introduced in a physicality and an depth that was fairly good and their kicking recreation was unbelievable first half,” Pollard informed TNT Sports activities after the match.
“They put us below stress, however we had a great chat at half-time, a couple of robust phrases, and by chance we turned it spherical within the second half.
“Not very best, not excellent, however we’ll undoubtedly take the win.
“[Leicester coach] Dan [McKellar] is just not an offended man, he’s a fairly chilled man, however to see him revved up was good,” Pollard added.
“We simply mentioned we’ve obtained a great plan, we knew our plan was the proper plan, we simply didn’t execute within the first half. However once more, credit score to the Stormers, they didn’t permit us to try this.”
Pollard’s reverse quantity and fellow Paarl Gimnasium outdated boy Jurie Matthee scored 16 factors, together with a well-taken drop-goal, on his debut for the Stormers.
There have been additionally excellent performances from locks Connor Evans and Hendre Stassen, who began their first recreation collectively as a second-row pair, and try-scoring No 8 Keke Morabe.
“In fact, they [Stormers] left a couple of massive names at dwelling however they’ve obtained a variety of depth,” Pollard mentioned. “There’s a variety of depth in South African rugby and we felt that tonight, unbelievable effort from them.
“It’s undoubtedly extra reduction however we’ll take pleasure in it nonetheless. We’ll return and work laborious as a result of we all know there’s an enormous problem coming for us in Paris.”
One other spectacular efficiency from Handre Pollard đź‘Ź
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