Siya Kolisi has passed his fitness tests and will lead the Springboks as they try to wrest the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series back to 1-all when they face the All Blacks in Cape Town on Saturday.
The double World Cup winning captain was bracketed with Paul de Villiers when coach Rassie Erasmus announced his team at the start of the buildup week as Kolisi had complained about a potential slight niggle on Sunday and it was decided that he must run full out on Monday and Tuesday before he could be penned into his regular position at No6.
Erasmus confirmed that De Villiers will drop out of the match day squad, with the direct swop between the skipper and De Villiers being the only change to the side that was announced on Monday.
However, Pieter-Steph du Toit was named as captain on Monday, and the leadership will now revert to Kolisi.
“Siya is 100 percent fit and he is starting and captaining,” said Erasmus as he faced the media for the second time in the space of two days at the team’s team hotel in Johannesburg.
“The only reason we announced Pieter-Steph to lead the side again on Monday was because Siya had to go through his medical assessment and we didn’t then want to have to change the captaincy again (if Kolisi didn’t make it). Today myself and Pieter had a conversation. He’s led us well in the games where he’s stood in, but we don’t want to encumber him with the captaincy on Saturday.
“This is his 100th match (for the Boks). He is playing it at a venue in the city where he grew up. Siya is a very good communicator and is our regular captain. The minutes against Argentina that he played were very good from him.”
NO ONGOING CONCERN OVER KOLISI’S INJURIES
Kolisi was injured early in that game in Buenos Aires, with the captain leaving the field with a hamstring injury.
Erasmus said that although hamstrings have been a recurring theme for Kolisi so far this international season, and he missed the Nations Championship games with the hamstring concern that ruled him out of the first match against England, it was not a concern to the management.
“It was just a hamstring. It was not a serious thing like 2019 and 2023, when he was in doubt for those World Cups because of knee injuries,” explained the Bok coach.
“He was not running at maximum speed when the injury occurred. He was at a breakdown and got cleaned out from behind and just over-extended. We just wanted to be cautious and on Sunday he was touch and go, which was why bracketed him with Paul. On Sunday he had some rehab and then on Monday and Tuesday he went full out and that was enough to confirm he will lead the team in Cape Town.”
Apart from it having been “just a hamstring injury”, Kolisi’s other hamstring injury that kept him out of the earlier games was to his hamstring on the opposite leg.
KOLBE RECOVERING WELL
Erasmus added that star wing Cheslin Kolbe, who was one of the injury casualties from Saturday’s first test, which the All Blacks won 33-16, was looking very good and was on the road to recovery.
“Cheslin is looking good, very good,” said Erasmus.
However, he did not elaborate on whether that might mean he sneaks back into the team later in the week, something that Erasmus did hint at earlier in the week if Kolbe made good recovery from the ankle injury detected after Kolbe initially came off the field with cramp.
At this point Ethan Hooker is preparing to play on the left wing against the All Blacks on Saturday.
Updated Springbok team: Damian Willemse, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Ethan Hooker, Handre Pollard, Cobus Reinach, Jasper Wiese, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi (captain), Ruan Nortje, Eben Etzebeth, Wilco Louw, Malcolm Marx, Ox Nche.
Replacements: Deon Fourie, Gerhard Steenekamp, Thomas du Toit, Lood de Jager, Andre Esterhuizen, Cameron Hanekom, Morne van den Bergh, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.