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Springbok flyhalf Handre Pollard shed light on the inspirational words Pieter-Steph du Toit had to say during a crucial time at the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
Millions of South Africans can attest to the tension experienced while watching the Bok™s tumultuous journey through the Rugby World Cup in France. Perhaps no moment was worse than when the team trundled down the tunnel 6-12 behind their archrivals England.
With England fullback Freddie Steward consistently defusing the Boks' bombs and the wet conditions slowing the game down, it didn't look good for the defending champions.
Speaking to former Scotland lock Jim Hamilton on the Big Jim Podcast, Pollard revealed that the Boks' inspiration came from one of the quietest players on the team, the workhorse that is du Toit.
"Pieter-Steph had a few words to say at half-time and he is a guy who never really speaks a lot, so that was interesting and I think we needed it at the time," revealed Pollard.
"What did he say because that is a big thing? You look at him, he is one of the greatest players playing the game and a phenomenal athlete, but he is very quiet.
"It wasn't a lot and it was in Afrikaans. He just got up and he basically told us: 'Listen, we just got to wake up and we got to get fire under our ar**s. We just got to wake up and fight. Do we want to go home tomorrow or do want to be in this tournament and play in the Final next week?'
"That is basically all he said, which was obvious.
"We were all thinking it, but no one was thinking it through at that moment. For a guy who is quite reserved to say that just really hit home for a lot of us and we got the reaction off the back of that."
Of course, the Boks rallied to score a try via RG Snyman and Pollard added two kicks of his own to send them into the Rugby World Cup Final. There, the talismanic du Toit put on a relentless performance to make 28 tackles and earn the man of the match accolade.
