Pollard in amputation fright

Cape Town - Bulls flyhalf Handre Pollard was close to having his arm amputated after complications with his surgery.

The Springbok star decided to have his shoulder injury taken care of while still being sidelined with a knee problem.

But the 22-year-old had to spend an extra five weeks in hospital after his shoulder became badly infected after the surgery, so much so that the doctors told him he may have to have his arm removed.

"There was a possibility, they told me that early on, but luckily we identified it as early as possible, if we had let it go another month or so there was a big chance of that," Pollard told Eye Witness News.

"Everything was sorted quite quickly, there was a possibility of that but fortunately I’ve still got all my limbs and can play some rugby.

"I was lucky that I’m out for the rest of the year with my knee so whatever happened with the shoulder didn’t delay anything too much, it’s not nice, it put me back by a bit and it’s going to make a recovery a couple of months longer but by the end of the day if everything goes well it should be all fine."