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Handre Pollard starts as Leicester name team for Stormers
By Ian Cameron
Springbok hero Handre Pollard is set to face off against his fellow South Africans after he was named at flyhalf in the Leicester Tigers side which will take on the Stormers in the Investec Champions Cup this weekend.
It will be Pollard's 20th game for the club and the first time he has faced South African opposition while wearing Tigers' colours.
Seven Tigers players will play their first game for the club in the Investec Champions Cup: Josh Bassett, Solomone Kata, Ollie Hassell-Collins, Archie Vanes, Kyle Hatherell, Tom Whiteley and Jamie Shillcock.
Tigers head coach, Dan McKellar has made three changes to the starting side that defeated Newcastle 47-3 last time out, with Bassett, Kata and Cameron Henderson rotating into the starting 15 at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.
Leicester Tigers head coach, Dan McKellar said: “Finishing that first block of league games the way we did was really pleasing. The Investec Champions Cup is a competition, personally, I’ve been excited to be a part of since I joined the club. These are the games players and coaches want to be part of and we know there’ll be a big atmosphere at Mattioli Woods Welford Road on Sunday.”
LEICESTER TIGERS:
15 Freddie Steward
14 Josh Bassett
13 Matt Scott
12 Solomone Kata
11 Ollie Hassell-Collins
10 Handré Pollard
9 Ben Youngs
1 Francois Van Wyk
2 Julián Montoya (c)
3 Dan Cole
4 Ollie Chessum
5 Cameron Henderson
6 Hanro Liebenberg
7 Tommy Reffell
8 Jasper Wiese
REPLACEMENTS
16 Archie Vanes
17 James Cronin
18 Joe Heyes
19 Harry Wells
20 Kyle Hatherell
21 Tom Whiteley
22 Jamie Shillcock
23 Dan Kelly
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Latest Comments
I'm honestly not so sure. I initially thought just reckless mainly because no player should be capable of doing that intentionally.
There's a strong argument that he's working both the eyes. It's his left hand he uses which is furthest from the ball he's contesting. His fingers are also clenched which I don't think is a natural way to try and rip a ball.
Go to comments"I see those teams, SA in particular, as only improving their performances in EPCR."
well, its gone the opposite direction so far!
"I don't like your model that requires them to reach Semi Final level in the Challenge trophy, given the bottleneck that will be URC with 16 teams playing for only 4 places."
my model would have given SA 3 spots in a 16 team CC this year, which is the same number as they have in the 24 team version that is actually taking place. But yes, if they keep getting worse it would get harder for them to get places. It would also get harder for you to argue that they deserve places though!
"I suggest by giving say Englands two semi finalist first seeds of the english teams, then the next best 4 on the league table as much better (it catches improving teams faster)."
interesting argument, but it doesn't always go that way. Gloucester are improving, but they improved in cup competitions before league fixtures started going their way. The same is true of Sharks, and the same was true of la Rochelle. I think maybe this is just an argument for allowing more teams to qualify via the challenge cup!
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