CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South Africa withdrew backs Handré Pollard and Kurt-Lee Arendse on Friday from the second test against New Zealand this weekend.
Pollard hurt his ankle in training on Wednesday and was given until Friday to pass a fitness test.
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu was restored to the No. 10 jersey and Manie Libbok brought into the reserves for the match on Saturday at Cape Town Stadium.
New Zealand won the first test 33-16 at Ellis Park last Saturday to go 1-0 up in the four-test series.
Pollard was picked ahead of Feinberg-Mngomezulu this week because of his familiarity with Cape Town conditions and veteran game management. The team valued his poise under pressure.
Pollard was praised by assistant coach Mzwandile Stick on Friday for making his injury known immediately.
“The nice thing about it, and I know it’s a sad situation, is for a leader like him to be honest about how he feels, to lose his pride in the sense of saying, ‘I’m not feeling well,’” Stick said. “At that moment in the training session I could see he was going through tears.”
Stick couldn't say how long Pollard might be sidelined.
Arendse was replaced on the right wing because Cheslin Kolbe recovered from the hamstring and ankle issues which forced his exit during the first test.
The late changes mean South Africa has made only two to the starting XV, bringing in captain and flanker Siya Kolisi and left winger Ethan Hooker.
Kolisi has played only 25 minutes in two months because of hamstring problems. The permanent captain since 2018 was asked on Friday whether he's thought about how long he'll keep going.
“I don't think like that at all, especially with the captaincy," he said. "I want to be in the team and I want to play.
"I think the injury itself is never the problem. It's just all in your mind. The battles that you have to fight, that's the hard part. You can sit there and think, ‘Am I going to get the opportunity again?’
“It's difficult because you want to play every game but you have to surrender your own dreams and goals and put them aside, because we're not only playing for each other but we're playing for the whole of South Africa.”
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South Africa's Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, right, tackles New Zealand's Quinn Tupaea during a Test rugby match between South Africa and New Zealand, in Johannesburg, South Africa, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
PLYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — Jurors in the Lindsay Clancy trial started a second day of deliberations Friday to determine whether she was responsible for her actions when she killed her three children in 2023.
Clancy admits she strangled her children, but her lawyer said she did it because she had lost her grip on reality due to postpartum psychosis, a rare mental illness that can follow childbirth. In the months before the killings, Clancy sought treatment for her worsening mental health, including a stay in a psychiatric hospital.
Prosecutors said Clancy knew what she was doing. They say she killed the children because she was depressed and tired of living, and made a conscious choice to take her children with her before killing herself.
The jury met for a few hours Thursday without reaching a verdict. Members of the panel could find her guilty of murder or the lesser crime of manslaughter, or acquit her if they decide she wasn't in control of herself due to her psychiatric problems.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988.
Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility. She did not testify during the trial, but jurors heard at length from medical professionals who treated her, as well as from friends and relatives she had told about her mental health problems.
Jurors also heard from medical experts called by prosecutors and the defense who disagreed about her likely state of mind when she killed her children, Cora, Dawson and Callan Clancy, ages 5, 3 and 8 months, at their Massachusetts home.
The killings happened less than three weeks after Clancy was discharged from a psychiatric hospital. She jumped from a second-floor window after strangling the children, but survived. She remains paralyzed from the waist down.
Lindsay Clancy tries to hold back tears as details of the murder of her three children are given in court during her murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington holds up a picture of th Clancy family before the murders during closing arguments in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)
Assistant DA Jennifer Sprague makes her closing arguments for the jury asking them to find Clancy guilty during the Lindsay Clancy murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)
A packed courtroom gallery listens during closing arguments in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington makes his closing arguments to the jury in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)
