Pollard credits ‘tough words’ at half-time for Tigers’ comeback win over Stormers

Handre Pollard revealed some choice words at half-time from Leicester head coach Dan McKellar inspired the recovery that earned The Tigers a comeback victory over DHL Stormers in the Investec Champions Cup.

The Gallagher Premiership Rugby side trailed 17-1src at half-time, but bounced back in style to secure a 35-26 bonus-point win and top Pool 4, which has been dubbed ‘the pool of death’.

World Cup winner Pollard was instrumental at fly-half, scoring 2src points on his own, but credited McKellar for the much-improved second-half showing at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.

“It wasn’t an ideal first 4src for us; credit to the Stormers though, they brought in a physicality and an intensity that was pretty good and their kicking game was unbelievable first half,” Pollard told TNT Sports.

“They put us under pressure, but we had a good chat at half-time, a few tough words, and luckily we turned it round in the second half.

“Not ideal, not perfect, but we’ll definitely take the win.”

He added: “Dan [McKellar] is not an angry guy, he’s a pretty chilled guy, but to see him revved up was brilliant.

“We just said we’ve got a good plan, we knew our plan was the right plan, we just didn’t execute in the first half. But again, credit to the Stormers, they didn’t allow us to do that.

“Way better in the second half, but a tough night.”

Pollard opened the scoring with a penalty in the sixth minute before his opposite num