VIDEO: Kolisi - It felt amazing
South Africa’s iconic captain Siya Kolisi made a satisfactory return to the playing field, 119 days after he suffered a knee injury that threatened to end his World Cup dream.
Despite playing only 40 minutes, the 32-year-old, 75-times capped flank did enough in the 52-16 demolition of Wales in Cardiff – including a try-scoring off-load four minutes into the match – to satisfy even the biggest cynics that he is good to go for the World Cup.
There was no sign of the injury he suffered while playing for the Sharks in a United Rugby Championship match against Munster in Durban back in April.
He lasted the first half, before being replaced.
“It felt amazing,” Kolisi told a post-match media briefing.
“I didn’t have any fear going into the game.”
He said the Springbok training sessions prepared him for the rigours of a Test match.
“I remember – while doing a contact session – I asked the guys to come at me a little bit softer,” Kolisi said.
“[However,] Pieter-Steph [du Toit] came to me and said: ‘Trust me, you’re fine’.
“Those kinds of things you can’t buy – having guys who have come through things like that.
“It was really good from him [Du Toit], RG {Snyman] and Handre [Pollard] to reassure me.”
(WATCH as Springbok captain Siya Kolisi speaks about his first game after knee surgery – a 40-minute outing in a 52-16 rout of Wales in Cardiff on Saturday…)
Asked if it felt ‘easy’ – an impressive performance, which included a try-scoring off-load inside four minutes – Kolisi was forthright in his response.
“No, not easy at all,” the Bok skipper said.
He was happy with the win, although there’s a lot of work ahead of next Friday’s final World Cup warm-up match against New Zealand at Twickenham.
“As a team, we did well,” he said, adding: “I thought our discipline could be a lot better, especially in the first half, but we wanted to stay disciplined in the system and I think we did that well.
“But next week is a different challenge and we’re going to have to get up again.”
Bok coach Jacques Nienaber said he was ‘very glad’ that Kolisi came through the game unscathed.
“There was a lot of sacrifice from him and his family,” the coach said.
“It required a lot of work behind the scenes by the medical team, performance and conditioning team, as well as the coaches.
“I am glad all the time and effort paid off.”
@king365ed
@rugby365com
