Pollard: My future still up in the air

HANDRE Pollard is out of contract at the end of the season and Leicester hope a strong showing for the rest of the campaign will persuade the South Africa outside-half to stay.

- PAUL REES

Pollard is in his third season with the Tigers after joining from Montpellier following George Ford’s move to Sale and is relishing life under head coach Michael Cheika, whose contract also ends in the summer.

“I am happy being at Leicester and I will continue to enjoy every minute I have here,” said Pollard, a World Cup winner in 2019 and last year. “I do not know yet what I am doing or where I am going.

“I am sure my agent is having discussions, but I am not involved in those yet so we will see. I hope it gets sorted out in the near future. My wife and I have really enjoyed it here. In December, it is not like living in the south of France or Cape Town, but you embrace the weather. The people are amazing and it is a great club to be a part of.”

Cheika, below, said that any team in the world would want Pollard, who has been linked with a return to Japan where the 30-year old spent a year in Osaka in the mid 2010s.

“We are one of those and as we have him at the moment we are in the front row,” he said. “Handre does not need to talk but enjoy his footy and being involved here.

“That is a really useful characteristic in wanting a person to stay. It is not about setting out the future but making the now really good. Make good things happen and everything will look after itself.”