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Siya Kolisi fires back at critics of future teammate Owen Farrell
South Africa captain Siya Kolisi has leapt to the defence of his future Racing 92 teammate Owen Farrell in the wake of criticism he has received before and after his move to the Top 14 was announced.
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Prior to the announcement last week of his move to Racing at the end of the season, the 112-cap former England captain had already announced that he would be taking a break from Test rugby for his own mental well being.
The decision came after a World Cup where the England great was staggeringly booed by his own fans. Once his departure from Saracens had been announced, the fly-half was then met by more jibes that he was turning his back on England.
But Kolisi has praised Farrell for making this decision and “choosing himself”, saying he has more to think about that just rugby.
As a guest on The Big Jim Show on RugbyPass TV recently, the double World Cup winning captain said how respectful of Farrell he is for making his decision.
“For Owen, I really don’t understand, he’s one of the greatest players to come out of England,” the Racing flanker said.
“People must know we’re also human beings. We have feelings, this stuff does hurt us. Saying something hurtful to someone, it’s not nice, and when it goes on and on and on people struggle and they can’t take it.
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“I’m so respectful towards him in choosing himself. We think rugby is your life – no, you’ve got kids, you’ve got a wife, you still have to be ok and be present and be mentally able because those are the people who suffer the most, your loved ones.
“He’s realised something’s got to give. He’s got to look after himself and that was his way of saying ‘ok, I’ve still got to be fine after this.'”
The 32-year-old is certainly relishing playing alongside Farrell after years of being adversaries, and explained how much he likes the Englishman. Farrell does not necessarily have a style that ingratiates himself with opposing fans, but Kolisi said that he loves having teammates like him.
“I love Owen, I really like him,” he said.
“I don’t understand why people don’t like him, I just think he’s f***ing competitive which is what you want.
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“He’s really a good leader, I think he’s very competitive and he’s just misunderstood.”
“There’s a lot of different ones. Like Dan Biggar, people always complain about him, but I don’t understand it. If you lose and you don’t look like you’ve tried hard enough, it’s a problem.
“He’s pushing his teammates, who have no problem with it. My teammates, the way they speak to me on the field when we played during the World Cup – like Bongi [Mbonambi] would tell me straight because he’s in charge of physicality.
“We’re in the midst of battle.”
Comments on RugbyPass
The Harlequins team must be in minus figures. Did the reporter actually watch the game?
2 Go to commentsHow on earth did Walker escape a red card? Not dangerous? Dupont has his face in a mask earlier this season. Shocking decision. What is the point of TMOs? We had the Fassi ‘non-penalty try’ yesterday and now this.
2 Go to commentsCould have been a different result but yet again French tv able to affect the result by not showing the very clear high shot on harlequin centre if this would have been on a French player would have been on screen at least five times
2 Go to commentsAmazing. The losing team’s ratings are higher than the winning team’s. Mallia definitely didn’t deserve a y. What game were you watching? Should have got a w or an x. ADP hardly featured in that second half. At one point I wondered when he’d been subbed. Seems to me as if he gets an automatic 9 just for getting onto the team sheet.
2 Go to commentsI’m sorry. That second half was far from enthralling. It was painful to watch.
2 Go to commentsVery generous! If you’d missed the game, reading this you’d conclude that it was the Quins front row that cost them the game. Marler getting a blanket 6 for his demented contribution to the game. Puzzling.
2 Go to commentsCan’t see Toulouse beating Leinster at this rate.
7 Go to commentsADP was having a very average game until winning that penalty for Toulouse, sticking his big head in the way. “The head of God”?
7 Go to commentsHarlequins doing their best to do as little damage as possible with all the possession. Looks like they skipped catch and pass drills this week.
7 Go to commentsSeeing pictures of Jacques high-fiving it with Irish players breaks my heart. Too soon. I need more time.
1 Go to commentsquins is all over the place. The minute they get the ball they panic. Quins can still win tho just need to win all rucks otherwise just don't bother.
7 Go to commentsGreat wins for the male & female kiwi sides. Ireland not far away..
1 Go to commentsWhy is this dude getting so much coverage? Usually knobs like this get cancelled.
2 Go to commentsWow. What was that? A 3 million word meandering article about what exactly?
2 Go to commentsNice piece of writing. And yes the Sharks pulled a rabbit from the hat and were a little lucky with that penalty try that wasn’t given… however the Sharks (with their resources) should be way more consistent and should be putting teams like Claremont away for breakfast. I expect more from them and hope they kick on now.
8 Go to commentsJust what the Sharks needed to get things going in the right direction Defence on the outside really creates havoc for the whole team and needs to be addressed.
8 Go to commentsWell done guys both teams will be ready to play knockout rugby.
1 Go to commentsSurprised that Ramos isn't starting at 15. But what a squad of galacticos!
2 Go to commentsWhy is it a snub? What journalistic garbage is that? Sure the guy is a great player, but there are plenty of loose forwards and not all of them can be Springboks. Also, I know of no-one who doubts Rassie’s judgment. South Africa has a conveyor belt of loose forwards that just keeps producing, so the competition is intense. I certainly wish him well, but there is no entitlement and there is no snub.
17 Go to commentsSkelton may be brought back for the Wallabies so that would be the only reason that may hinder Wilson. Easily the form, most skilful and game IQ of any Oz 8. Valentini’s best and favourite position is 6, but lineouts may be an issue with Skelton, Valentini and Wilson. Will be interesting what Schmidt goes for but for me Wilson should be picked on form. Schmidt rewards work rate, skill and consistency. All that glitters every so often won’t be in contention. Greely is one of those players that has a knack of making the right decision. A coach is going to love him because he knows week in week out he’s going to get the job done. The second try Greely wasn’t the guy who made the initial break it was Flook, Greely was at the bottom of the ruck when Flook was off along the sideline. Greely got up and made the effort to catch up with play but also read the play nicely and hit the pass from Campbell at pace and then held the pass beautifully to Ryan.
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