Springbok captain Siya Kolisi will hope to make a big impact on his return from injury against the All Blacks on Saturday.
Springbok captain Siya Kolisi has recovered from another injury in time to lead the side against the All Blacks in the second Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Test at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday evening.
Kolisi has been hampered by a number of injuries over his career, but has always managed to come back stronger, and the Boks will be hoping for a massive performance from their skipper to help boost them against their biggest foes.
This season already Kolisi has suffered two different hamstring injuries, to both legs, one that ruled him out of the three Nations Championship games in July, and the second on his return against Argentina that ruled him out of the first All Blacks Test.
With the 35-year-old now in the twilight of his career, Kolisi was asked on Friday on the eve of the second Test against New Zealand if he ever thought about whether this might be one of his last games for the Boks.
“I’m still young brother,” said Kolisi with a laugh at the captain’s press conference on Friday.
“I honestly don’t think about that at all. Especially with the captaincy thing. I just want to be in the team and play. As long as God still allows me and I can get up and recover from injury (I will play).
“The injury itself isn’t the problem, it’s about all the battles in your mind that you have to fight. That’s the hard part. Because you can sit there and think about things, like am I going to get an opportunity again?
“You look at a guy like Pietie (Pieter-Steph du Toit). It’s his hundredth game now. He’s had an ACL (injury) twice, he almost had his leg cut off. And tomorrow he will run out for his hundredth Test. You draw strength from that.
“When I did my ACL (before the 2023 World Cup) and I had guys like RG (Snyman) and Handré (Pollard) who had also done their ACL (before). So when you have those dark moments and you have a guy next to you that says, ‘hey you will get through it,’ it puts you in a better place.
“So thinking about if this might be the last match or last time captaining, I don’t think about that at all. Because I still feel good physically.”
Kolisi added that if his time playing did come to a premature end, he wouldn’t be worried, because he was confident in the players coming through the pipeline to be able to step up and fill the massive void he would leave behind.
“If it is the last game then that’s what it is, you see the talent coming through. A guy like Paul (de Villiers), the way that he has played when he’s had the opportunity (is brilliant).
“We as players we are happy when guys are coming through and playing well when they get their opportunity, because it is putting the team in a better place.
“With coach Rassie it is always the team first, and whoever is playing on the day, everyone around them is doing their best to make sure that person gets better.”
Saturday’s match at the Cape Town Stadium kicks off at 5.10pm.
