Siya Kolisi is delighted that fellow Springbok and friend RG Snyman is in line to feature in the Champions Cup playoff between the Sharks and Munster on Saturday.
The Irish outfit confirmed on Tuesday that Snyman travelled with the squad to Durban for the last-16 clash against a Sharks team that features several of his Bok teammates.
The World Cup winner had spent the past 17 months on the sidelines recovering from the second of the knee ligament injuries he had suffered since joining Munster in 2020.
Speaking during a Sharks conference on Wednesday, skipper Kolisi told media: “It’s not nice to see a player go through an injury, especially a long one like he had. For him to stay in the fight … because a lot of people would give up and not want to do it anymore. He stayed in it, and it shows how special of a team Munster is, to stick with him and look after him.
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“For us as players, it’s an inspiration to keep working hard. And also the country [South Africa], it’s good to have him back.
“I don’t care who he plays for; I really get inspired by [a comeback like Snyman’s] and I’ve been rooting for him forever because I obviously want him to be well. He’s a good friend of mine and I really enjoy playing with him.
“It’s not always nice playing against him and I hope he doesn’t play too well [on Saturday], but I’m glad he is in the team.”
The Sharks head into this week’s clash having never looked like beating Scarlets in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship on Saturday when they lost 32-20 in Wales – many of the returning Boks struggled to shake off the rust and made plenty of errors on attack and defence.
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Kolisi added: “You could see we haven’t played together as a unit. Within the team I thought a couple of players as individuals had a couple of good moments but as a team, we obviously didn’t work at all.
“We were really disappointed in ourselves and it’s just one of those games and you just make peace with it. We told ourselves that for this week we just need to come with a different mindset, it’s a different competition.
“So for ourselves and for our supporters, we want to put in a better performance against a strong Munster side, and also because it’s a cup clash – you lose, you’re out, you’re done.
“So we want to make sure we put in a good performance and go through to the quarter-finals.”
Photo: Lee Warren/Gallo Images