'I'm sure he'll have a role to play': Siya Kolisi's future in politics

South Africa fly-half Handre Pollard says he can “easily see” his teammate Siya Kolisi moving into politics when his rugby career comes to an end.

The flanker’s influence has reached far beyond the rugby pitch ever since he lifted the Webb Ellis Cup in 2019, and he has long been tipped to move into politics after rugby, with a longstanding half-joke that he should run for President.

After leading South Africa to World Cup glory again last year, and now approaching the twilight years of his career at the age of 32, Kolisi is forced to address this issue a lot, and insists he does not want to move into politics. However, his teammate is not sure that will always be the case, and says he has “too good a heart not to get involved in something”.

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As a guest on RugbyPass TV’s The Big Jim Show recently, the Leicester Tigers fly-half discussed the impact that the Springboks winning the World Cup has had on South Africa, but says there is only so much they can do as rugby players.

“We’ve got to be realistic, it’s South Africa and there were probably troubles and bad things going on that day after the final again, but I still think there’s a bit of that nice feeling still going around the country,” the 29-year-old said.

“Hopefully we can ride that wave of positive energy because that’s what we really need at the moment in South Africa.

“We can only do what we do, we are rugby players, we try and bring joy to the country and positivity. By winning World Cups that helps, but there are people in much higher places that have to keep driving this.

“So, I don’t know if Siya is going to go into politics after rugby. He always says no, but we’ll see about that.

“I can easily see it, I can understand if he doesn’t want to do it. But I think he’s going to play a role some way or another, in some way or form. What that is, we don’t know, we’ll see but he’s got too good a heart not to get involved in something if he knows he can have a positive influence. I’m sure he’ll have a role to play.”