Siya Kolisi’s long walk to becoming a Springbok Test centurion against all odds

Given the odds against him, Siya Kolisi should not have played one Test match, never mind 100. But on Saturday night, 8 November, in the hostile cauldron of the Stade de France, against a French team hell-bent on revenge, the Springbok captain will celebrate a remarkable century in a sport where longevity is rare.

Kolisi’s personal milestone happens to coincide with one of the Boks’ biggest clashes since Rugby World Cup 2023. It’s the scene of France’s worst rugby moment – when Kolisi’s Boks sent Les Bleus packing from their own World Cup with a dramatic 29-28 win.

Naturally, because the Springboks always put the collective at the forefront, the squad has not made a fuss this week about Kolisi’s impending milestone. “Egos at the door; team first,” is the Boks’ mantra.

Kolisi (34), least of all, will boast about reaching 100 Test caps, but it is an achievement worth hailing, perhaps more than any of the previous eight men who have reached the landmark.

When he is given the honour of running out ahead of the team – the traditional gesture marking a Test cap milestone – it will be worth taking a moment to quietly honour this towering figure.

Springbok number 851, Springbok captain number 61 and Test centurion number nine, Kolisi has defied the odds.

Growing up in poverty in Zwide, Eastern Cape, losing his mother when he was young, raised by his grandmother, drinking sugar water to quell desperate hunger and eating sporadically – that is not the recommended way to develop into a muscular rugby player.

Just coming out of that upbringing to lead a “normal” life would be an achievement. Coming through it to become a brilliant rugby player, a two-time World Cup-winning captain, a respected leader and possibly South Africa’s most loved athlete, is remarkable.

Kolisi’s rise is in some ways the perfect South African story because he represents all of us through his experiences. He comes from humble roots and now lives in comfort. But the journey he has been through to get here has encompassed all stages of the South African tapestry.

He emerged from poverty to reach the highest level of a sport that shows no mercy to reputation, background or expectation. In rugby at the highest level, everything must be earned, every day. Two serious knee injuries, among the dozens of other sprains and strains, underlines this. 

Kolisi adopted his two half-siblings, married Rachel, a white woman (they have subsequently divorced) and is a devoted father to two children – Nicholas and Keziah – who will be in Paris on Saturday night to cheer him on.

The rainbow nation could hardly have wished for a better mentor to illustrate how South Africa and the Springboks’ complex history can be embraced.

Rugby was his way out, and he took it with all he had. Hundreds of first-class games and a century of Test caps later, the boy from Zwide has become the man for all Mzansi.

Power of hope

Perhaps Kolisi’s greatest trait is that he represents the values of fulfilling his talent through opportunities and in turn providing hope for generations to follow.

Kolisi has always acknowledged the role others have played in his life and his personal and professional development, be it coach Eric Songwiqi or teacher Andrew Hayidakis, and how he was fortunate to have people who helped him rise, which is not surprisingly the title of his autobiography.

“I don’t shy away from where I have come from and I’m aware that my story is a typical South African story in some ways. It’s my motivation,” Kolisi told this writer shortly before captaining the Springboks for the first time in 2018.

“Yes, being a professional sportsman can be tough, and occasionally you question if it’s all worth it. But then I just think about where I’ve come from and about the people that look up to me. For me to be able to help people inspired by me, I have to play every week. That is my duty.

“I’m not only trying to inspire black kids, but people from all races. When I’m on the field and I look into the crowd, I see people of all races and social classes. We as players represent the whole country.

“I tell my teammates that you should never play just to represent one group. You can’t play to be the best black player or to be the best white player to appeal to a community – you have to play to be the best for every South African. We represent something much bigger than we can imagine.”

The list of people who played a part in the Kolisi journey is long, but one of them is successful New York-based businessperson Vincent Mai.

As a Grey High School alumnus, Mai abandoned South Africa in opposition to its apartheid policies. But when Nelson Mandela was released after 27 years of incarceration and the ANC was unbanned, Mai knew he had to give back in some way.

He started a scholarship at Grey High School that supports boys from underprivileged backgrounds annually to attend the prestigious school.

Kolisi happened to be one of those beneficiaries – the 75th – after his rugby talent was spotted at a primary schools festival.

Mai and Kolisi have become friends, and the former has played a crucial mentoring role in Kolisi’s life. But Mai takes no credit for Kolisi’s stature in the game.

“You must salute Siya’s remarkable perseverance,” Mai told Daily Maverick from New York.

“His ethic of hard work and trying his best at all times underlines his strengths. If you earn 100 Test caps it means you’ve operated at a level of supreme excellence for a long time. It all stems from hard work and it’s all Siya – I find it breathtaking.”

Stuttering start

Kolisi’s Test debut came relatively soon in his first-class career. As a Stormers recruit in 2009, his rise was steady.

He played in the Western Province junior teams and featured in the Currie Cup in 2011. Kolisi would’ve made his Stormers debut in the 2011 Super Rugby semifinal against the Crusaders too, but he went out partying the night before the game, got into a fight during an attempted mugging and was beaten up so badly he was unable to play. Stormers director of rugby Rassie Erasmus was livid.

Kolisi managed to win back the trust of the coaches in Cape Town and made his Stormers debut in Super Rugby 2012. His chance came when legendary flank Schalk Burger suffered a tournament-ending injury 15 minutes into the opening game of the season against the Hurricanes.

Kolisi was supposed to be gradually introduced to the Stormers, but his development was fast-tracked through Burger’s misfortune. And he never looked back.

In June 2012, Kolisi was overlooked for coach Heyneke Meyer’s first Springbok squad after a string of blockbuster outings for the Stormers.

At the same time, a young Marcell Coetzee had made his Super Rugby debut for the Sharks, and when it came to choosing between the two, Meyer initially went with Coetzee.

Over the next three years, Kolisi was always in the Bok squad, orbiting the periphery, never fully cracking it. At that stage Kolisi had been playing blindside flank and No 8, and had not evolved into the unique openside he has become today.

His first 13 Test caps, won between 2013 and 2015, were all off the bench. It took until 2016 under coach Allister Coetzee, his old Stormers mentor, for Kolisi to finally start a Test in his 14th outing, when he ran out at blindside against Ireland at Newlands.

Barring periods of injury, Kolisi has never looked back since that day.

Leadership

Kolisi is now a respected and successful captain, but it wasn’t always the case. Others, though, saw the leadership potential in him, more than he saw it in himself.

One of them was former Stormers head coach Robbie Fleck, who appointed Kolisi as club captain in 2016.

“I first saw Siya playing in about 2009 when he came to the senior Stormers training setup and I was immediately impressed,” Fleck told Daily Maverick.

“He was a natural leader in the sense that he was a strong personality among his peer group. But he also had the respect of the senior players because he had the ability to mix between the juniors and seniors well.

“In training he was always pushing the best players – he was up there in the beep and the bronco tests with the top guys. He was proving what kind of character he was, but in the Siya way.”

By that, Fleck means the ability to include everyone and make all feel welcome, valued and seen.

“That’s why I chose him as a leader: Siya is always authentically Siya,” Fleck said. “The beauty of Siya is that despite all his success and fame, he has never changed.

“He’s still that same, humble, authentic person we met years ago. That’s why he’s
the leader he is and why people buy into what he represents…

“He has a raw, untapped energy about him on and off the field, but he didn’t always see it.” Kolisi admitted that leadership was thrust on him rather unexpectedly.

“In 2016 Fleckie [Robbie Fleck] said I needed to realise that I was now a senior player in the side. He was blunt: I had to get my act together,” Kolisi told this writer in that same interview before his debut as Bok skipper.

“It made me switch my mentality. I realised that I had to stop hiding and acting like a child in the team. I had to man up and show leadership because even though I was 24, I was already quite experienced.”

Fleck recalls it was Kolisi’s speech at his wedding to Rachel that galvanised his thinking about making him Stormers captain.

“It was a big wedding and there were guests from all parts and phases of Siya’s life – from Zwide and Grey to the WP and the Stormers and other friends – and he got up there with no notes and had us all enthralled.

“He spoke freely, from the heart. The EQ he displayed left me in no doubt that he was the guy we needed to lead the team.

“He is a natural connector of people. Siya connects people on an emotional level.”

On Saturday, in a foreign land that is as far from Zwide as it is possible to be, Kolisi will lead his team out of the tunnel wearing the Springbok No 6 jersey into an unwelcoming reception. He and his team will once again connect all of South Africa.

It’s a short walk out of the tunnel and into the arena. But for Kolisi and South Africa, it represents a long walk to freedom, acceptance and equality against stupefying odds. 

MESSAGES FOR SIYA FROM DAILY MAVERICK READERS

Johan Schoeman: Siya! Every time I see you, I either get a big smile on my face or a huge lump in my throat… 

Tshwaro Moswatlhe: I was at that Ellis Park game in 2018 when you ran on as skipper for the first time. That was probably one of the more significant moments in Bok rugby, outside of winning World Cups, of course.

But probably my favourite Siya Kolisi moment has to be when you scooped up that wonky pass against France back in 2017 to score an intercept. Here’s hoping for some of that sparkling stuff this Saturday.

Congratulations, Grootman, and here’s to another 100. 

Lance, Kate, James (11), Luke (9) and Mitch (7): It’s an incredible achievement to reach 100 caps for the number one team in the world. And to have captained them through these golden years has you marked in the history books.

Thank you for the thoughtfulness that you’ve put into leading our team, and the way you inspire and encourage young people around the world.

David Mojapele: You are an icon, Siya. South Africa loves and appreciates you. You are an inspiration to many. I pray that our loving Heavenly Father may continue to bless you with good health, strength, peace and love. May his tender mercies be forever upon you and your family. Congratulations on your 100th cap.

Harry Pretorius: Dear Siya,

As you step onto the pitch at the Stade de France for your 100th Test in the green and gold, South Africa stands united in celebration of not just a remarkable milestone, but also of the extraordinary man and leader you have become.​

As only the ninth player in South African rugby history to reach this centurion milestone, you have shattered barriers and reshaped what it means to lead our nation. Through the Kolisi Foundation, your work against gender-based violence, food insecurity and educational inequality speaks to a commitment that extends beyond sport. ​

That your children will walk alongside you on Saturday evening, in the same stadium where you lifted the Webb Ellis Cup two years ago, adds a poetic beauty to this moment. This is not just about rugby – it is about a nation seeing itself reflected in your story and finding hope in your triumph.​ 100 Tests. One nation. One captain. One legacy.

With deepest respect and gratitude, South Africa. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly DM168 newspaper, available countrywide for R35.