SPOTLIGHT: Handre Pollard says the current crop of Springboks will need to work harder if they want to be labelled the greatest of all time.

The Springboks made it back-to-back World Cup wins last year in France and they followed that up by winning this year’s Rugby Championship trophy.

However, Pollard believes consistency between World Cup tournaments is still something they need to work on if they want to be remembered as the best.

The 30-year-old believes the All Black team between 2011 and 2015 under Steve Hansen set the benchmark high.

That team only lost three matches between World Cups.

“That is 100 percent for other people to judge,” Pollard told Dan Cole and Ben Youngs on the latest episode of the For The Love Of Rugby podcast.

“My personal opinion is that we are not there yet.

“We want to be and we are going to try our very best, but that 2011 to 2015 All Black team is still the best team ever.”

Pollard added: “The thing is we just need consistent success.

“We’ve done well in the World Cups. However, it’s about consistently winning Rugby Championships between World Cups and winning series.

“We are in Europe now and we are trying to three out of three.

“That’s the kind of stuff that makes you one of, if not, the greatest team ever.

“We still got a little bit to go there, I feel. It’s definitely not something we speak about.

“We just want consistency. With developing young players and rotation, that is going to be hard, but we believe we can do that and still get the results.

“It’s going to be tough, but we are on our way.”

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Worries Springboks: Rassie Erasmus We Lose His Services Ahead of end-of-year Tour

The Springboks could lose the services of another Rugby World Cup winner ahead of their upcoming tour to Europe after tighthead prop Frans Malherbe sustained an injury while on duty for the Stormers.

After last playing in the Boks’ final Rugby Championship Test against Argentina in Mbombela last month, he returned to action for the Stormers in their United Rugby Championship (URC) clash with Glasgow Warriors in Stellenbosch on Saturday.

9Did not leave with Springboks for training camp

However, Malherbe left the field with an injured ankle after 50 minutes and, according to a report on the Rugby365 website, the 33-year-old was not part of the Springboks squad which departed for a training camp in Jersey on Sunday.

The Boks will finalise their preparations for their Tests against Scotland, England and Wales in November.

He is one of three Springboks who were injured against Glasgow Warriors with fellow World Cup winner Damian Willemse (utility back) and Ben-Jason Dixon (blindside flank) also limping off in the Stormers’ 28-17 defeat.

Willemse sustained a groin injury while scoring the Stormers’ first try and has been ruled out of the Boks’ tour with Bulls number eight Cameron Hanekom coming into the world champions’ squad as his replacement.

in the Boks squad, suffered a knee injury, although the severity of it is yet to be determined.

Willemse’s injury turned out worse than Dobson predicted and it means that he will not participate in any Springboks Tests this year as he missed the mid-year internationals and the Rugby Championship after having surgery on a finger injury.

If Malherbe does not join the Boks squad he will be the third player to withdraw from their European tour, after Willemse and Bulls utility forward Jan-Hendrik Wessels.

Due to Wessels’ versatility, he was replaced by Bulls team-mates Johan Grobbelaar (hooker) and Wilco Louw (prop) and if Malherbe withdraws, Louw and Vincent Koch will be the two specialist tightheads in head coach Rassie Erasmus’ squad.

Thomas du Toit is able to pack down on both sides of the scrum while Ox Nche and Gerhard Steenekamp are the specialist looseheads in the 35-man group.