The latest update on Siya Kolisi
SPOTLIGHT: Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus has confirmed that Siya Kolisi will face the All Blacks at DHL Stadium in Cape Town on Saturday.
The captain missed South Africa’s 16-33 defeat to New Zealand in the first Test of the Greatest Rivalry at Ellis Park last weekend.
Erasmus revealed on Monday that the captain had a bit of a niggle on Sunday, but Kolisi came through training on Monday and was bracketed alongside Paul de Villiers in the starting XV for the Cape Town showdown.
Kolisi suffered a hamstring strain 20 minutes into the game against Argentina in Buenos Aires earlier in August.
It was a nervous wait on the captain, but Erasmus confirmed on Tuesday that Kolisi is fit and ready to face the All Blacks.
The coach also revealed that he will captain the Springboks.
“Siya is 100 percent, he will be starting and he will be captain,” the coach confirmed.
On the recovery, the coach said: “We told him he needs to be able to run full-out on Monday, and he did that yesterday and today [Tuesday] without any discomfort, so he is good to go.”
The explained that Pieter-Steph du Toit was handed the captaincy on Monday to cover for Kolisi while they waited on his availability.
“The only reason why we announced Pieter-Steph as captain is if a player has to go through a medical period on a Monday, and he has to be captain and he withdraws in the middle of a training session because his hamstring didn’t last, then all of a sudden we have to switch captaincy again.
“Where Pietie just took it for us on Monday, so Siya can concentrate on doing his job, and today me and Pietie had a chat.
“It is his 100th match, and in such a match you probably don’t want to have captaincy and a lot of other things around you, you really want to play well.
“For us and for South African Siya means a lot. Pietie was excellent as captain, but Siya is our captain at this stage. Those 25 minutes he played against Argentina; he played really well.
“And obviously it’s not just his game. Also, he is a very inspirational person and a guy that means a lot to us on and off the field.
South Africa – revised: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Ethan Hooker, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche.
Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Andre Esterhuizen, 21 Cameron Hanekom, 22 Morne van den Berg, 23 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
Date: Saturday, August 29
Venue: DHL Stadium, Cape Town
Kick-off: 17.10 (15.10 GMT; 03.10 NZST Sunday, August 30)
Referee: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia)
Assistant referees: Karl Dickson (England), Angus Gardner (Australia)
TMO: Eric Gauzins (France)
