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Cheslin Kolbe is STILL strapped up from the World Cup final, 4 days later
The Springbok celebrations have shown no sign of stopping since they beat New Zealand 12-11 in the Rugby World Cup final at the Stade de France on Saturday night.
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With the late kick-off of 21:00 in Paris, the celebrations went well into the night, culminating in the likes of Eben Etzebeth getting a new haircut because of teammate RG Snyman at 4:30am the next morning.
“I said ‘if we win the world cup, I’ll cut my hair the same as yours’ and obviously after the win in the final, it was about half past four in the morning… Yeah… the last time I drank water was in the game,” explained Etzebeth upon arrival in South Africa yesterday.
“Obviously I wanted to be a man of my word, and I mean, winning the cup with these guys, I’ll do anything, so I decided to cut my hair. He sat me down and Damian Willemse cut my hair.”
😂 “We weren’t drinking water!”
Elizabedi talks us through the story behind his new trim, which involves RG Snyman and Damian Willemse 💈
A man of his word 🔒#RWC2023 | #StrongerTogether pic.twitter.com/W9tE4w1h8Y
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) October 31, 2023
On Sunday night it was the World Rugby awards, where Etzebeth was included in the Dream Team of the Year but missed out on World Player of the Year to Ardie Savea.
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On Monday the entire squad left to fly to South Africa, and images surfaced on social media showing star winger Cheslin Kolbe still with strapping on his wrists and shoulders.
When arriving to thousands at OR Tambo airport in Johannesburg on Tuesday, some noticed that he hadn’t taken them off.
View this post on Instagram
He writes his family’s names on his wrist-strapping, so they are always with him, so perhaps he’s planning to keep it on until returning home to them.
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A try-scorer in the 2019 final, Kolbe was yellow carded late in the game in Paris, and famously couldn’t watch those last few minutes after he thought he’d let his teammates down.
After the final whistle, the 30th birthday boy was part of a memorable and somewhat unfortunate team celebration when Siya Kolisi lifted the trophy, and the speedy winger got himself in a comical tangle with a South African flag.
🇿🇦 “You were fighting for your life!”
Cheslin Kolbe had the South African flag wrapped around his face when the photo of the Siya Kolisi lifting the Rugby World Cup trophy was taken!
Also, Cheslin’s voice though 😂 pic.twitter.com/aqxstrP4oY
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) November 1, 2023
Today is Wednesday, and as the celebrations continue, with the players arriving at broadcasting partner Supersport’s central offices in Randburg, Johannesburg, Kolbe is still wearing the protective strapping.
He was actually filmed today placing his gold world cup winners medal around the neck of young Desmond Koolen, who recently went viral for singing James Brown’s ‘I feel good‘ in a Springbok top. That in itself is an unbelievable story of selflessness and another life-changing moment for the boy.
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Pure class! Selfless moment by @CheslinKolbe today! The @Springboks are back and celebrations continue at Multichoice City @SSRugby @SuperSportTV pic.twitter.com/UEFLltXe4q
— Yusuf Jackson (@The_Yusman) November 1, 2023
So as we can see, Cheslin has decided that the strapping needs to stay on, and with South Africa starting their trophy tour all around the country tomorrow, don’t be surprised if nothing changes over the next few days.
Is that man still wearing Saturday’s strapping 😂😂
— Twak_Praat (@NotFromHereToo) November 1, 2023
Comments on RugbyPass
Naaaww boys will be boys! Now run along ya wee scamp! Don’t let us catch you at again😏
1 Go to commentsGreat to have Ethan Blackadder back in the Crusaders in the last few weeks. One of the best all round loose forwards around. He played so well last week against the Rebels. Fantastic attitude Ethan has and his comments are spot on.
1 Go to commentsThe author is 100% right. The Springboks know that they don't have near the natural attraction, mana, skill and mystic the All Blacks have. So, Chasing the sun 1 & 2 was concocted to overblow the Boks image on the back of a corruptly obtained “win". It's marketing ploy to force the Boks delusion as the World's Best. I guess World Rugby is also not to be believed when it came out with an apology about how the final was officiated. And if the 2023 final such a superb game by the Boks, then the Boks crying about Referee Bryce Lawrence for decades is also deserves a laugh. Chase the sun and get burned like a moth. A very well written literary piece that tore the Boks and Chasing the sun farce to shreds. 🖤All Blacks🏉
141 Go to commentsI’d say France was far more hard done by in the 2011 final than the All Blacks in this game. Joubert simply refused to call a penalty against the All Blacks in the last quarter even directing an All Black to drop a ball he picked up in an offside position rather than penalizing him. This article also totally discounts the efforts of PSTD. Ask Jordie how well he played. Or the backup flank who played hooker for the entire game. Siya was also a brilliant tackle by Richie from scoring a blinder. Pollard was also fantastic. Look I don’t like the boks style but the only thing more questionable than the content of this article is the timing of it. Get over it already
141 Go to commentsDad Marty was also a handy rugby player for Linwood back in the day. Great bloke. Sensational softball career.
2 Go to commentsWhat ifs are always dangerous. If you look at the game before Sam cane got sent of SA was dominating. You could make the argument the going down to 14 men rallied the troops and made them have to play to win which is always dangerous.
141 Go to commentsOmg… you are bruised And battered Benny. Stop crying … the scoreboard speaks. What a pathetic lover you are.. 🤣🤣🤣
141 Go to commentsPacific Lions, cry me a river
141 Go to commentsThis is the single worst piece of journalism I have ever seen since your last one. As a neutral, who really states that there should be an asterisk next to a win? You are an utter embarrassment to real AB fans, journalism and that joke of a house which pays you for this nonsense. Get a life, Ben.
141 Go to commentsGuys. Cancel the World Cup champions after this analysis. It changes everything. Ben knows. We’ll have to unengrave the Bokke off the trophy and hand it to the ABs, now that I’ve been enlightened about this illegitimate win. This needs to be done. Now!
141 Go to commentsBen is right here though, Springboks were woefully poor with the advantage they had throughout this game. The France match was heroic because that was an even contest this match had it taken place in Rugby Championship would have been an easy win for NZ. If anything this match should tell the Bok coaches that a lot of this team should be changed. They beat this same NZ team by record margin with the same circumstances but with a different core. They bring back the tried and tested guys and they nearly botch this game.
141 Go to commentsI knew who wrote this article from the first few words in the headline…lol. The red card actually did the ABs a favour. It galvanized them, only then did they step up a gear. Before that there was zero momentum.
141 Go to commentsFirstly the foul on Bongi was a planned move just like the NZ master plan with Bryce Lawrence you kiwis are filthy fux perhaps try to play a cleaner game next time I doubt that’s possible tho but don’t worry world rugby is on yr side they trying to take away all the BOKS strengths to help all you weakling as Jeremy Clarkson would say LA OO ZA ERR..🤣
141 Go to commentsAbsolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
141 Go to commentsHo hum.
141 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
141 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
141 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
141 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
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