Rugby's clutch king Handre Pollard: I don't practise that much
In the United States, the term 'clutch' is used to describe players who consistently deliver under the greatest of pressures, usually with the game on the line. If Michael Jordan and Tom Brady were the prime exponents of this skill in the NBA and NFL respectively, then Handre Pollard is rugby's clutch king.
The Leicester Tigers fly-half is preparing for a Premiership semi-final against Sale Sharks who will be well aware of his formidable record in a knockout setting. In World Cups, no one has administered more dagger blows than the player they call the Iceman in South Africa.
In the 2019 World Cup, Pollard kicked a decisive 76th minute penalty to down Wales in the semi-final before booting a further 22 points in the final against England. Four years later, Pollard kicked a penalty from inside his own half to see the Springboks past France in the quarter-finals. A 78th penalty in the semi-final against England took South Africa to the final where he kicked all their points in a 12-11 victory over New Zealand.
Somehow the higher the stakes, the cooler Pollard becomes; he did not miss a single shot at goal in the 2023 World Cup knockout stages where the Springboks recorded three successive one-point victories.
'I do around 20 kicks a week'
Whole books and documentaries have been devoted to examining Jordan and Brady's ability to deliver game-winning moments consistently. I have always been fascinated by Pollard's own approach, particularly when it comes to kicking a penalty with the result on the line.
In potentially his last interview as a Leicester Tigers player before he joins the Bulls in South Africa, the insight Pollard provides is revealing as much for what he does not do rather than what he does.
By fly-half standards, he barely practises kicking in training. 'You probably won't believe me – I will kick twice in the week and maybe on captain's run,' Pollard says. 'I will do around 20 kicks a week. That's it. That's just my process. I have a number in my mind before I start kicking on a day, which is normally between eight and 10 but if I feel good after six I will stop.'
By contrast, a typical Premiership fly-half will kick hundreds of times a week.
He does not undertake any pre-match visualisation process such as those George Ford, his opposite number on Saturday, swears by. 'Nope, I don't do that. Just kick my kicks,' he says. Nor does he have any mental checklist after he's put the ball on the tee.
'When you are kicking at your best, you are not really thinking about anything. The clearer your mind is, the better – so muscle memory can take over and practice takes over. Whenever you think 'technical stuff' before a kick then you are generally in a bad spot because you are overthinking it. I try to clear the mind as far as I can. It is really not exciting.'
'It just has to be automatic'
By his own admission, goal-kicking was never a skill that came naturally. Yet Pollard has not had a personal kicking coach since he was 22 and says his technical process contains no great mysteries. 'It is honestly very simple,' Pollard said. 'First of all you align the ball. If you stuff that up at the beginning then you are in a downward spiral.
'After that it is four steps back and then just focus on planting my foot well and getting my bodyweight through the ball. Kicking is very personal to the individual. It evolves over time, but it is whatever works for you. A lot of it is trial by error until you find something that works for you. After the 2019 World Cup, I changed my run-up from six steps to four steps because the fewer steps you take the less chance of error there is, especially later in games. When you get tired, your run-up can become inconsistent.
'Kicking is a mental thing – probably about 90 per cent mental and 10 per cent technique. If the process is simple and the routine is simple, then the fixes can be simple. If it is overcomplicated then there can be too many things going through your mind. Especially with the shot clocks these days, you don't have time to think about it. It just has to be automatic.'
If there is a secret to Pollard's almost supernatural calmness under pressure, it is that he relishes his role as the clutch king and the responsibility that comes with that. It is a peculiar role within a sport with so many moving parts and variables that all the chaos frequently boils down to a goal-kicker's test of nerve. Particularly in a World Cup setting when the hopes of millions rest upon your shoulders, that weight of responsibility can feel crushing to some.
Pollard, meanwhile, not just embraces but actively enjoys the prospect of lining up a penalty with the game on the line. 'I absolutely love it,' Pollard said. 'It is what you dream of. You don't dream of taking a kick when you are 20 points up. That's what you grow up wanting to do. You should enjoy that moment. The older you get, that feeling of pressure and excitement, you are not going to find that many more times in your life so you have to cherish it.
'I will say in tight games you have to address that something is going to come in the next few minutes. Some guys might try to shy away from that in their mind thinking someone else might score a try and I won't have to take a kick. But I find if you address it early enough in your mind that it is probably going to come down to a kick then you can relax and enjoy it.'
None of this is to say that Pollard is infallible from the tee. This season in the Premiership he is kicking at 85 per cent, second only to Marcus Smith among frontline goalkickers, but he has had plenty of down seasons. While he says every miss 'p----- him off', he also has learnt to process those failures in a way that Jonny Wilkinson, the previous clutch king, was never able to. 'You can't dwell on them too long or look into it much,' Pollard said. 'If you miss, then you have to move on. You will kill yourself if you look back at your misses too often. Fortunately in rugby, you get to kick a few times in the game.'
The 31-year-old vividly remembers missing three shots at goal in the 2015 World Cup quarter-final against Wales. 'A couple of my senior team-mates said to me 'we will back you no matter what so keep going' and I ended up getting a drop-goal,' Pollard said. 'When your team-mates back you and give you that confidence then you know what you are capable of.
'Again it is a privilege that you can be that guy for your team, whoever you are representing. You have to make your peace with it that it is not going to come off every single time. Life does not work that way. Once you accept that it takes a lot of pressure off.'
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