Springboks icon could return for Wales clash
SOUTH Africa captain Siya Kolisi has been tipped to return to full fitness ahead of this year’s Rugby World Cup just weeks after suffering a season-ending injury that saw him go under the knife.
The flanker seriously injured his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in the Shark’s URC clash against Munster last month and underwent knee surgery, putting his place in the defending world champions’ squad in serious doubt.
However, the 31-year-old has been backed to be passed fit in time for the tournament in France in September, while he could even feature in the Springbok’s warm-up match against Wales on August 19 as well as those against Argentina and New Zealand.
Providing an update on Kolisi, coach Jacques Nienaber said he was “hitting his markers” in his recovery and was on track to be fit in time to help his side defend the title they won in Japan four years ago.
“You will recall that Siya was injured back then as well and did not play through most of the build-up to the [2019] tournament,” he said.
“He didn’t lead the team when we won the Rugby Championship that year, and from memory he only played off the bench in our final warm-up Test in Pretoria before our departure and then he played in the game we played against Japan in Japan two weeks before the start of the tournament. We’ve been through this before and we know that Siya can play at a World Cup and do a good job of leading the team as that was what happened in 2019.”
South Africa’s director of rugby Rassie Erasmus added that Kolisi was being given right up until the tournament to prove his fitness, but expressed hope that he would be ready to go weeks before their first pool game against Scotland.
“The bottom line is that he is our captain. We won’t replace him as captain, we will have stand-in captains,” said Erasmus.