Suntory Sungoliath are chasing the signing of South Africa’s double World Cup-winning fly-half Handre Pollard, according to reports.
The 30-year-old is out of contract with Leicester Tigers next summer and is believed to have suitors in France, Japan and South Africa.
Pollard, who scored 14 points as Leicester secured a come-from-behind victory against Gloucester last Sunday, could join Springboks teammate Cheslin Kolbe at cash-rich Suntory.
The well-travelled serial winner played in Japan’s Top League for Red Hurricanes Osaka in 2015-16 alongside South Africa colleagues Jesse Kriel and Eben Etzebeth.
Pollard made nine appearances and scored 32 points as his side was relegated from the top-flight after losing the relegation/promotion game against Top Challenge League winners Munakata Sanix Blues.
Former Top League winners Suntory, who beat Yokohama Canon Eagles in the third-place play-off in May, have enticed some of the game’s most famed fly-halves to Japan in recent years such as Matt Giteau, Beauden Barrett and Damian McKenzie.
New head coach Kosei Ono’s side has former All Blacks captain Sam Cane and Springboks ace Cheslin Kolbe as their marquee overseas players while Argentina veteran Nicolas Sanchez, who replaced the injured Gareth Anscombe in December, left at the end of the season.
Suntory are believed to be in the market for a new international fly-half and are leading the race to sign Pollard according to MailSport.
Japanese starlet Mikiya Takamoto, 23, who scored 157 points last season, is the club’s first-choice and only designated fly-half and won the Rookie of The Year award in May.
Australia-born utility-back Tony Alofipo, 22, can cover the fly-half role but has only made two appearances in his three seasons at the club.
League One sides can register three players who have international Test rugby experience for a country other than Japan (Category C) in their matchday squad. Those spots were filled by Cane, Kolbe and Sanchez last season with former Australia international Sean McMahon missing the entire season through injury.
McMahon, 30, who last played for the club in March 2022, is participating in full training sessions and is on the verge of returning to competitive action.
Suntory might be able to register McMahon as a Category B player which is set for players expected to qualify and represent Japan. He has already fulfilled the three-year sit-down period to be able to represent another country having last played for Wallabies in 2017, the year he moved to Japan.
If McMahon is registered as Category B player next season it would enable him, Cane, Kolbe and another internationally capped player to all be named in Suntory’s matchday squad.
Some League One clubs blessed with more than three top-class internationals in their registered squad for the season operate a rotation policy to preserve their most prized players for the full season.
Pollard, who starts for Michael Cheika’s Tigers in round six of the Gallagher Premiership against Saracens on Saturday, fits the mould of a potential overseas Suntory signing with his high-profile and noted success on the game’s biggest stages.
The former Top 14 and Challenge Cup winner with Montpellier signed for the Tigers in 2022 and reportedly took a considerable pay-cut to run out for the Welford Road outfit.
Pollard will link up with the back-to-back World Cup champions and 2024 Rugby Championship winners South Africa in November as Rassie Erasmus’s all-conquering team play Scotland, England and Wales in the Autumn Nations Series.
Pictures courtesy of Red Hurricanes Osaka
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