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'Awesome' Springboks reaction to having Kolisi back in their team
Jacques Nienaber has hailed the advance in medical science that has resulted in Siya Kolisi being ready to take the pitch on Saturday for the Springboks just 119 days after he suffered a serious knee injury when playing for the Sharks in Durban in the URC.
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It was feared at the time that the 2019 Rugby World Cup-winning skipper would not be available in time for the upcoming 2023 finals in France, which South Africa start with a September 10 pool match versus Scotland in Marseille.
However, the 32-year-old has shaken off all the pessimism surrounding his injury to be selected in the Springboks team to face Wales in this Saturday’s Summer Nations Series just 17 weeks after he limped out of his club’s league fixture versus Munster at Kings Park.
His selection in a South African team that shows 11 changes from their last outing on August 5 against Argentina vindicates the faith Nienaber and co had in their team captain to pitch up fit in time for the finals in France and the coach paid tribute to his inspirational back-rower on Tuesday in Cardiff.
“A lot of things have changed and that is probably the beauty of the medical world and science, how specialised the support staff of our team and the other teams have become and how they look after the people and the high-performance environment they put around player show have got injuries,” said Nienaber, chuffed that he was able to name Kolisi in the Springboks team just three and a half weeks out from the start of the World Cup.
“Especially with this group, we still have a squad of 42 that had to be looked after… a lot of guys who were injured are back now, but they [the medical/S&C staff] still had to look after the guys who are on the field now. The work that the performance and medical group have put in was outstanding to look after him but also not to neglect the other guys.
“It is awesome having him back. He had been part of the team for quite some time, it is not like he was out. He did his rehab with us and was with us the majority of time.
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“Although he did his own rehab stuff on the side, he was part of the team sessions and although he is only on the field now, he was part of the team from the start. It’s nice to have hit back and playing again because he has worked hard and he really deserves it.
“Siya has put a lot of effort and sacrifice in to be ready now. It’s a reward for him to be ready to get an opportunity to play and it is nice for the team to have him back because he has been an integral part of this team over the last six years that we have been together.
“It will be nice to give him some game exposure over the next couple of games to make sure he is battle-hardened and ready and sharp when we go into the World Cup and into that same against Scotland.”
What particularly helped Kolisi through his arduous rehab? “He actually took a lot of encouragement from guys with previous injuries, guys in the group who had the same injury as him,” explained Nienaber.
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“He mentioned that it was nice when he was feeling sore and went to them, they said, ‘No, this is good, I felt the same way’. He probably amplifies that if you are willing to work incredibly hard with specialists around you and you are willing to sacrifice everything, anything is possible.
“Whenever there is an injury, you are never 100 per cent sure. You have certain markers over time, and he was hitting them consistently and sometimes a little bit quicker than we expected.
“Those markers are objective, does he have full range of movement, does he have full extension, does he have this, does he have that?
“The moment he hits all these markers he can progress to the next stage. In the beginning, you are not sure.
“A setback can come and then you have to pull back a bit and then you have to wait until it settles down and then he can push again. I don’t think he had one setback in all the markers.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
31 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
31 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
31 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
31 Go to comments