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Video: Pollard already back in gym after recent ACL surgery
By Josh Raisey
Springboks fly-half Handre Pollard has returned to the gym as he continues to recover from a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament. The 26-year-old sustained the injury on September 11 while playing in Montpellier’s second game of the Top 14 season against Racing 92 at the Paris La Defense Arena.
He underwent surgery soon after and is expected to be out of action for six to nine months. The World Cup winner has provided positive updates thus far and now, five weeks after his operation, he has shared a video of himself at the gym as he continues his recovery.
The clip shows him swimming, cycling and using the leg-press among other exercises. The obvious goal for Pollard will be to return in time for the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa next July and August.
While he will obviously miss much, if not all, of the current Top 14 season and upcoming Heineken Champions Cup, the fly-half will not actually miss any Test rugby as it stands.
The Springboks opted to miss this year’s Rugby Championship due to complications relating to the Covid-19 pandemic as the tournament is being held in Australia.
5 weeks post operation, feeling great ?? @nike_za_ @rene_naylor A post shared by Handre Pollard (@handrepollard) on
They have therefore not played a match since they won the World Cup over a year ago and are not yet scheduled to play another until the first Test against the Lions in Johannesburg on July 24, 2021. That could be subject to change in the coming months, though.
Pollard is not the only Springboks player with a long-term injury that the South African management have to worry about. Second row partners RG Snyman and Lood de Jager also face long spells on the sidelines.
Snyman suffered an ACL tear only weeks before Pollard during his first appearance for Munster, while Sale Sharks’ de Jager recently had his third shoulder surgery in two years.
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