Two captains
IN JOHANNESBURG THE first Test between South Africa and England today is a tumultuous tale of two new captains.
One of them emerged from a cradle of savage hardship in the toughest of environments to lead his nation against all the odds, and the other is Siya Kolisi.
Before Wiganers revolt, that is a joke of course. Owen Farrell and most other people in Europe would barely be able to comprehend the deprivation Kolisi experienced growing up in Zwide township near Port Elizabeth.
Raised in abject poverty by his grandmother with hunger a constant companion and a brick his only toy, Kolisi played his first trial match in a pair of boxers because he could not afford shorts.
Talent overcame circumstance and he was whisked off to the prestigious Grey High School on a scholarship to begin the journey that would culminate in him becoming the first black man to captain the Springboks in a Test match.
Kolisi will lead them out at their spiritual home of Ellis Park today wearing a No6 jersey rich in symbolism. Nelson Mandela famously wore the same number at the same venue at the 1995 World Cup final.
Hollywood made that story into a film; who knows, they might one day make one about Kolisi.
Warm and engaging, he was asked yesterday if he had thought about Mandela’s jersey ahead of the game.
“To be honest, no,” he said. “I’m a very calm kind of guy and I feel like if I put outside pressure on myself it is going to get too much for me.
“After the three games I will probably just sit down and have a moment. I do have an idea of how big it is because people are asking me those kinds of questions but I am just trying to focus on the main thing, which is how I play on Saturday.”
If there is the feeling of a page turning for South Africa then on a less-historic scale, the same may well be happening for England. Farrell is in theory merely a stand-in during this series for Dylan Hartley, right, who is sitting out the tour to deal with a long-term concussion W Le Roux S Nkosi L Am D De Allende A Dyantyi H Pollard F De Klerk T Mtawarira B Mbonambi T Nyakane RG Snyman F Mostert S Kolisi (capt) J-L Du Preez D Vermeulen 14 13 12 11 10 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 E Daly J May H Slade O Farrell (capt) M Brown G Ford B Youngs M Vunipola J George K Sinckler M Itoje N Isiekwe C Robshaw T Curry B Vunipola
South Africa replacements:
16 Van der Merwe, 17 Kitshoff, 18 Louw/T Du Toit, 19 P-S Du Toit, 20 Notshe, 21 Van Zyl, 22 Jantjies, 23 Gelant
England replacements:
16 Cowan-Dickie, 17 Marler, 18 Williams, 19 Shields, 20 Hughes, 21 Spencer, 22 Francis, 23 Solomona.
Referee: B O’Keeffe (NZ). Kick-off 4.05pm (Sky Sports)