Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber has confirmed that Siyamthanda Kolisi has his backing following knee surgery at the end of April, to recover fully for the World Cup and will not be replaced as Springbok captain at this stage.
Nienaber insisted that Kolisi remains captain of the Springboks and that stand-in captains will cover for him during the Rugby Championship and pre-World Cup warm-up matches.
Nienaber also confirmed that Kolisi continues to hit the rehabilitation targets that have been set for him and he is positive that Kolisi will recover in time for the Springboks’ first World Cup fixture, on Sunday, September 10 against Scotland in Marseilles.
“He is hitting his markers,” Nienaber said. “Do we think he will be available for the World Cup? Yes, we do!”
Nienaber pointed out that Kolisi did not play many warmup tests before the World Cup in 2019 either when he was also recovering from a knee injury.
“We played him off the bench against Argentina and his first start was the World Cup warm-up match against Japan, he is a guy who has done it before.
“We will give him as much time as possible because history has shown that he is a guy that doesn’t need to play Test matches before a World Cup."
South Africa’s Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus said “Even if Siya is not 100 per cent ready by the Scotland Test it is a long way to the Final of the World Cup, being our captain, having been there and done that, it is the one player who can do it as he did at the previous World Cup. We are fairly confident that he will go to the World Cup.”
