Handre Pollard expressed his excitement after making a successful return with a perfect performance off the kicking tee for the Springboks against Tonga.

Pollard played 50 minutes as the Springboks all but secured their place in the World Cup quarter-finals with a bonus-point victory over a tenacious Tonga side on Sunday night.

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It was the 2019 World Cup winner’s first Test match since last August, having originally been left out of the 33-player squad due to a calf injury.

“I enjoyed it very much, it was so much fun. Just on a personal note it was nice to play again and I enjoyed myself out there,” Pollard said.

“It has been a crazy rollercoaster. There have been extreme lows, of course, early on and extreme highs to get recalled so really just great to be back in the environment with the boys. Hopefully contribute as much as I can in whatever role that may be, I am just here to help the team succeed and I am excited.”

With the Springboks struggling with their goalkicking in the loss to Ireland, Pollard provided an answer to the woes by kicking four out of four, including two touchline conversions.

“We joked in the week about it, my first kick is probably going to be in the corner and it was! You follow your normal routine, you do your thing,” he said.

“Like Manie [Libbok] kicked extremely well when he came on. I think it’s a great thing as a kicking unit. there have been a lot of heat on us for that but after today we can take this forward with a lot of confidence.”

Jacques Nienaber was delighted with how Pollard handled the intensity of the game, which was only his second appearance after recovering from the injury that kept him out of the World Cup squad.

“Handre, the important part is he had 30 minutes at Premiership Cup level, which is a little bit below international [level], tonight he got 50 minutes against a proper Tonga side that has got better as the tournament has gone on. They are a team that will just improve the more they play tier-one nations.

“They have some top players that have played for New Zealand, and Australia. Some of them play for the Crusaders, Toulouse, so they know what rugby is about.

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“He got a proper test match against that. He got through 50 minutes,” Nienaber added.

“I think he will just get better. I think he was solid. You look at his ball carries – that was decisive and good. His defence, I thought his level changed well and he put some proper shoulder hits in. I thought his off-the-ball work was good and his kicking game in general was good.

“The fundamentals [for which] we wanted him to tick the boxes, I think he ticked tonight.”

Photo: CHRISTOPHE SIMON / AFP