Leicester confirm Handre Pollard will replace Ford next season

Leicester have confirmed they will replace England out-half George Ford with Handre Pollard, the Springboks 2019 World Cup winner, for the 2022/23 season after the 27-year-old agreed to make the move from the French club Montpellier. What the Tigers would do next became a hot topic last month when Ford decided he would switch to Sale after the Sharks confirmed that AJ MacGinty would be leaving for Bristol. Pollard was a name quickly linked to the vacancy, with Finn Russell also mentioned. 

In the end, though, the 60-cap Springboks talisman became the Leicester choice – a development first reported by RugbyPass on November 18 – and a deal was officially announced on Tuesday afternoon. “Handre is a world-class fly-half who brings with him a wealth of experience from Super Rugby, Top14 and international rugby,” said Tigers boss Steve Borthwick.  

“He is a World Cup winner who has been highly sought-after from clubs all over the globe but, most pleasingly, he sees Leicester Tigers as the club for him.

Jake White on the Bulls’ tough start to life in URC

Video Player is loading.

Play Video

PauseSkip BackwardSkip Forward

Unmute

Current Time 0:00

/

Duration 0:00

Loaded: 0%

0:00

Stream Type LIVE

Seek to live, currently behind liveLIVE

Remaining Time -0:00

 

1x

Playback Rate

Chapters

• Chapters

Descriptions

• descriptions off, selected

Captions

• captions settings, opens captions settings dialog
• captions off, selected

Audio Track

Fullscreen

This is a modal window.

Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.

Text

ColorWhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanOpacityOpaqueSemi-Transparent

Text Background

ColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanOpacityOpaqueSemi-TransparentTransparent

Caption Area Background

ColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanOpacityTransparentSemi-TransparentOpaque

Font Size

50%75%100%125%150%175%200%300%400%

Text Edge Style

NoneRaisedDepressedUniformDrop shadow

Font Family

Proportional Sans-SerifMonospace Sans-SerifProportional SerifMonospace SerifCasualScriptSmall Caps

ResetDone

Close Modal Dialog

End of dialog window.

Close Modal Dialog

This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button.

Jake White on the Bulls’ tough start to life in URC

“What has impressed me most in our dealings with him has been his desire to be a part of what we are building at this club but also his desire to develop, learn and grow as a player and person. This is a very exciting signing for the club and one I hope Leicester Tigers fans are excited about.”

Pollard added: “I am excited to join Leicester Tigers, to be a part of this great group of players at a special club and challenge myself, test my limits and be the very best I can be for the team. The club is going brilliantly at the moment and I know there is an expectation to continue that, to keep getting better because getting to the top is hard but staying there is even harder.

How Springbok star Handre Pollard could look in a Tigers kit ? pic.twitter.com/muGm9aoVuK

— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 1, 2021

“There are bigger deals on the table, but I’ve made this decision to work with Steve and to be a part of an unreal, great club at Leicester Tigers which has such a great history. I don’t know the whole history of Leicester Tigers, but this is a club that is so well renowned worldwide. Everybody I have spoken to about playing there, for Tigers or an away team, says it’s the one stadium that is on another level.”

Pollard will link up with Leicester at the conclusion of his Springboks commitments ahead of the 2022/23 season in England.