Siya Kolisi brings gravitas as skipper for Boks in crucial second Test

It probably doesn’t matter much to the All Blacks who the Springboks send out for Saturday’s second Test at DHL Stadium because they have their style and blueprint and won’t veer from what works for them.

So the news that Siya Kolisi got through two tough fitness sessions to measure the durability of his creaking hamstrings won’t have done more than elicit a knowing nod in camp New Zealand.

It’s not that they don’t respect or rate Kolisi – it’s just that they have hundreds of hours of seeing him play and will know what he brings to the team and to the game as an individual. The Bok skipper has played 104 Tests. There are no secrets to his game.

For the Boks though, it’s a boost.

Leadership

There is no doubt Kolisi is a fine leader and someone who has the respect of referees. In a sport where managing relations with the officials is as important as managing a lineout, Kolisi brings gravitas.

The Boks will not openly admit it, but it felt like they lacked leadership at times during the 33-16 first Test loss at Ellis Park last weekend.

Brilliant flank Pieter-Steph du Toit is a colossal figure in rugby, but he would be the first to admit he’s not the most vocal person in the team. He is not as comfortable communicating with officials or with his teammates. The legendary flank, who will earn his 100th Test cap in Cape Town, prefers to lead by deeds. With Kolisi back, Du Toit was relieved of the captaincy – as coach Rassie Erasmus said on Tuesday when revealing that Kolisi was back in the mix.

“Pietie (Du Toit) was happy that he can focus on his game in his 100th Test, and not have other things to concern him,” Erasmus said.

“It takes a bit of pressure off Pietie.”

Rugby, being a complex maze not only of laws, but of how they are interpreted, requires the captain to have more on his mind than running lines and defensive patterns.

For Kolisi, this side of the job comes far more naturally, and the subtleties of communication with officials can sometimes be the difference between being awarded a positive or negative decision.

World Rugby would never want that to be the case, but in a sport adjudicated by feelings as well as facts, the captain and his rapport with the 31st person on the pitch matters.

Kolisi suffered a hamstring injury against Argentina nearly three weeks ago. He was enjoying a storming game before he was forced off midway through the first half of that encounter in Buenos Aires, which the Boks won 17-10.

“A grade-two hamstring takes a little bit longer to heal, so we were just being cautious,” Erasmus said about Kolisi’s injury.

“Last week it was maybe touch and go, but on Sunday, when he did some rehab, he said he was a bit sore going over the ground.

“We told him he needs to be able to run full-out on Monday, and he did that yesterday and today [Tuesday] without any discomfort, so he is good to go.

“If a guy has to go through a medical process on Monday and he’s also captain, it throws us into the middle of everything if his hamstring hasn’t cleared.

“So Pieter-Steph took the captaincy for us on Monday, and that let Siya fully concentrate on his own job and his own work.

“Today, Pieter-Steph and I had a chat, and in a match like this, you probably don’t want to be dealing with captaincy things and a hundred other matters around you. You really want to just play well.

“What Siya means for us, for South Africa, means a lot. Siya is our long-term captain. It’s not just his game, it’s also that he’s a very inspirational person, and a guy that means a lot to us on and off the field, in tough times and good times.”

Paul de Villiers, who was bracketed with Kolisi when Erasmus named the team on Monday, will drop out of the 23 altogether.

Erasmus said that wing Cheslin Kolbe “was looking good”, suggesting that he could be a late call-up. That would probably mean Ethan Hooker dropping out, although that was not made clear.

Rennie confident

Meanwhile, All Black coach Dave Rennie remained quietly confident that his team would improve for the second Test, despite Tuesday night’s midweek game against the Lions.

“We’re pretty busy this week,” Rennie said. “From a coaching point of view, we’ve all been on the computers trying to get all the review stuff and key learnings.

“One advantage when you play the same team multiple times in a row is that your review is your preview, so we’ll try and utilise that time.

“There’s not a lot of downtime for the players this week, and we’re mindful that a wounded Springbok is dangerous and so we’re going to have to prepare very well and lift our game.”

Rennie was also expecting more of the same physicality from the Boks, but more accuracy too.

“I think they’ll double down [on the physicality],” Rennie said.

“They’ll probably feel they had the edge at scrum time and in the aerial contest [at Ellis Park]; again, they’re very good in that area.

“They probably made a few errors, uncharacteristically; I think they’ll double down on that and try to do it better.

“They’ve got amazing depth here; if they’ve lost a couple of players, they’ve got plenty of guys that can fill in.” DM