Siya Kolisi says a no-nonsense approach at training allowed him to play without fear after making his first appearance for the Springboks after knee surgery. DYLAN JACK reports.
Kolisi completed the full first half before being substituted at half-time in a solid comeback for the Bok captain in the trashing of Wales in Cardiff.
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Playing just 119 days after going under the knife on a knee injury, Kolisi showed very few signs of wear and tear as he went through his 40 minutes with aplomb.
“It felt amazing,” he said after the match. “I didn’t have any fear going into the game.
“I think our training sessions prepared me very well. I remember doing a contact session and I asked the guy to hit me a little bit softer. Pieter-Steph [du Toit] walked up to me and told me to trust my knee and that I will be fine.
“You can’t buy those kinds of things, especially from somebody who has been through that.”
Jacques Nienaber was delighted to have his captain back, with the Springbok head coach also revealing that, no matter how well Kolisi was playing, the flanker was only going to get a maximum of one half of rugby.
“I am very happy for him. He has put lots of hard work in behind the scenes and it was great to see those sacrifices pay off.
“The plan with Siya was to leave him as long as he is productive on the field. But we got capped by the medical team on 40 minutes. We were never going to give him more than 40 minutes.
“We had a conversation with him and said, ‘Listen, go out as hard as you can with as much intensity as you can’. The moment we could see that he isn’t productive any more – which didn’t happen – or he felt he wasn’t being productive, then we would pull him.
“We said from the beginning, if everything goes according to plan and you are productive and feel good, then we will give him 40 minutes.”
Photo: Juan Jose Gasparini/Gallo Images via SA Rugby