{"id":488844,"date":"2026-06-12T06:54:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T06:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/488844\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T06:54:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T06:54:17","slug":"handre-pollard-jamison-gibson-parks-kicking-off-nine-is-probably-the-best-in-the-world-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/488844\/","title":{"rendered":"Handr\u00e9 Pollard: \u2018Jamison Gibson-Park\u2019s kicking off nine is probably the best in the world\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Croke Park<\/a> made an impression on the Bulls. That\u2019s quite the compliment when considering the iconic stadiums in which South African<\/a> players are used to playing in, such as Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, Ellis Park in Johannesburg and Kings Park in Durban.<\/p>\n

The Bulls will return to GAA headquarters on Friday week in a repeat of last season\u2019s URC<\/a> Grand Final, a game Leinster<\/a> won 32-7. <\/p>\n

Handr\u00e9 Pollard didn\u2019t play in that match, instead contesting the English Premiership final with the Leicester Tigers on the same afternoon. But this time he will be wearing the 10 jersey with the Bulls.<\/p>\n

When the double World Cup winner with the Springboks was asked what he knew about Croke Park, he repeated what his team-mates had told him about the Dublin venue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe boys have said it\u2019s one of the best pitches they\u2019ve ever set foot on. They were amazed [by] how good the pitch was. I\u2019m excited to go there and hopefully there\u2019ll be a great crowd and a great vibe. It\u2019ll just be a great spectacle.\u201d He did add a little bit of a rider about the weather, but what could possibly go wrong on an Irish summer night. <\/p>\n

While Pollard didn\u2019t play in last season\u2019s final, he is well versed with Leinster and pointed to the fact that they are a multifaceted team. \u201cThey\u2019ve got so many things that they do so well. I\u2019d probably say that [Jamison] Gibson-Park\u2019s kicking off nine is the best in the world. That\u2019s a big factor.<\/p>\n

\"HandréHandr\u00e9 Pollard prepares for a kick. Photograph: Ewan Bootman\/Inpho <\/p>\n

\u201cWe know their set-piece, their lineout contesting is brilliant as well. And then, of course, they\u2019ve got a very aggressive [defence] set with Jacques [Nienaber]. They\u2019re very difficult [to play against] but when you get to this stage of the season, you can focus on the opposition and try and delve into them as much as you can.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if you don\u2019t do what you have to do well, it\u2019s not going to matter at all. So, we\u2019re really going to focus on ourselves this week, whilst looking at them, analysing them as much as we can, and using the extra week as well for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old outhalf smiled when asked for his thoughts on Leinster\u2019s two outhalves, Sam Prendergast and Harry Byrne, his response the essence of diplomatic politeness. \u201cI know the guys [in question] get quite a lot of criticism back in Ireland but they\u2019re great players; each different. <\/p>\n

\u201cSam is, of course, a younger guy. He\u2019s got that sort of swagger [about] him. He plays his game with so much confidence. Harry is a really, really solid, solid player. He\u2019s been doing a great job. Whoever they pick, or whoever they decide to use within the game, it\u2019s two great players.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd playing alongside, of course, Gibson-Park, they\u2019re very, very dangerous. I\u2019m not going to pin it down to one thing for each of them. It\u2019s just two very good players, two guys I really respect and I\u2019m going to look after them as much as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

A little closer to home, Pollard was asked about his untypically wayward placekicking in the 22-21 win over the Glasgow Warriors in Murrayfield last weekend. \u201cI was terrible last weekend in terms of kicking. But you have those days and you\u2019ve got to be able to put it aside and see it for what it is. <\/p>\n

\"HandréHandr\u00e9 Pollard speaking after the Glasgow Warriors match. Photograph: Ewan Bootman\/Inpho <\/p>\n

\u201cI like to think I\u2019ve maybe had more better days than bad days in terms of kicking into my career. I\u2019ve been there before, as frustrating and disappointing as it was. I know what to do to reset. You just go back to your normal routine, your system that you know works for you. Small little technical tweaks, something I picked up [in the review], which I can fix pretty quickly. So, it\u2019s nothing big.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pollard conceded that he had seen the half-time pushing and shoving in the tunnel during Leinster\u2019s semi-final win over the Stormers but put it down to the passion of the occasion. Perhaps a more pertinent and tangible legacy from that match is a point made by Stormers coach John Dobson afterwards that Leinster win matches in the first 20 minutes with their ability to score heavily.<\/p>\n

It hasn\u2019t gone unnoticed down Pretoria way. But the Bulls can take heart for their resilience and ability to claw back deficits just as they did in their semi-final when clawing their way back to victory from 21-3 down.<\/p>\n

Pollard said: \u201cNo, no, no, we are aware of that. They [Leinster] always get off to a great start, and that\u2019s testament to their preparation and their mindset going into a game. I think it\u2019s something a lot of teams can learn from, ourselves as well.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018We want to put on a proper show\u2019: Leo Cullen ready for \u2018physical\u2019 Bulls showdownOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, we don\u2019t want to be 21-3 behind like we were last week. It\u2019s up to us to come out with the right intent and mindset and be accurate. I think that\u2019s the main thing, being accurate those first 20 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year we had to work hard to get where we are. Does that mean anything going into the final? Probably not. But we\u2019re going to go out there and just do that again. If the cards don\u2019t fall our way, then fine. That\u2019s rugby. But we\u2019ve worked very hard to get ourselves here and we\u2019re very excited to have this opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Croke Park made an impression on the Bulls. That\u2019s quite the compliment when considering the iconic stadiums in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,148902,9517,105,170298],"class_list":["post-488844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-leinster-rugby","tag-south-africa","tag-sports","tag-united-rugby-championship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}