Siya Kolisi remains indispensable to the Springboks on and off the field, writes SIMON BORCHARDT.
When asked last week whether Siya Kolisi would captain the Springboks in the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series against the All Blacks, Rassie Erasmus replied: “Without a doubt. He is fit, he is the captain.”
With that, the Bok coach emphatically ended speculation around Kolisi’s future, which surfaced during the Nations Championship while the skipper recovered from a calf injury and Stormers flank Paul de Villiers seized his opportunities against England, Scotland and Wales.
So impressed was former England flyhalf and veteran rugby writer Stuart Barnes that he wondered whether De Villiers’ performances might force a rethink.
“Have we seen the end of Siya Kolisi as Springbok captain?” Barnes asked. “A giant of the game, an all-time great, but all good things come to pass.”
Before the July Tests, fellow British rugby writer Stephen Jones had questioned Kolisi’s place in the Bok starting XV.
“With the greatest respect, their only weakness in their current team is Siya Kolisi in the back row – God bless his role, his status, the magnificent example he sends, but he is not remotely in the same class as South African players across the back five and he is being hauled off with increasing regularity,” he wrote.
Jones is right about one thing: Kolisi is regularly substituted.
He came off in the 40th, 44th, 58th and 51st minutes of last November’s Tests against France, Italy, Ireland and Wales. The same pattern was evident during the 2023 World Cup, when he was substituted in the 45th minute of the quarter-final against France, the 50th minute of the semi-final against England and the 72nd minute of the final against the All Blacks.
But those changes have never been an indictment of Kolisi’s performances. Erasmus expects his captain to empty the tank before unleashing the impact of his bench or making tactical adjustments, such as introducing hybrid André Esterhuizen against Ireland. With experienced leaders throughout the side, replacing the captain has never been an issue.
Comparisons with specialist openside flanks such as De Villiers, Kwagga Smith and, previously, Francois Louw also overlook one important point: Kolisi plays a different game.
As former Springbok coach Nick Mallett pointed out recently, one of Kolisi’s greatest strengths is his ball carrying.
“He’s an immensely dense runner,” Mallett said. “He’s compact and he bounces people off. When you put him into wider spaces, he’s got tremendous offloading skills and very good hands.”
Mallett also highlighted Kolisi’s defence, explaining that while he prefers to counter-ruck rather than attack the ball directly, he is more than capable of forcing turnovers by physically removing opponents from the breakdown.
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De Villiers offers something different. His instinct is to get over the tackler immediately and compete for possession.
“He’s outstanding over the ball,” Mallet said. “He listens to the referee. His balance is brilliant. He stays on his feet and he’s like a limpet. It’s very, very difficult to get him off the ball.”
That doesn’t make one player better than the other. It simply gives Erasmus different weapons.
Mallett believes Kolisi will have to play well to keep De Villiers out of the side. Erasmus, though, has made his position crystal clear. When fit, Kolisi is his No 6. With Smith sidelined, De Villiers is more likely to fill the impact role he performed behind Deon Fourie for the Stormers at times last season.
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And, of course, Kolisi brings far more than what he produces on the field. As a two-time World Cup-winning captain – and the Springboks’ first black African captain, which remains hugely significant in South Africa – his leadership carries enormous weight. As former Bok lock Victor Matfield said during all the speculation, Kolisi is the glue that holds the team together.
Mallett has admitted that the biggest mistake of his coaching career was dropping Gary Teichmann – who captained the Springboks during their world record-equalling run of 17 consecutive Test wins in 1997 and 1998 – for Bobby Skinstad ahead of the 1999 World Cup.
Dropping Kolisi for De Villiers would risk having a similar effect on the current Springbok squad.
It’s not a mistake Erasmus is about to make.
Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images
The post Siya’s still the man appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Siya Kolisi remains indispensable to the Springboks on and off the field, writes SIMON BORCHARDT.
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