Kolisi to retain Bok captaincy

Two-time Rugby World Cup-winning Springbok captain Siya Kolisi will retain the captain’s armband when the world champions host Ireland in Pretoria on July 6, Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus says.

Erasmus confirmed that Kolisi, who is based overseas with French club Racing 92, will again lead the team, ending speculation he was to be replaced by a SA-based player. Kolisi guided the Springboks to World Cup glory in 2019 in Japan and four years later in France.

“Siya will be the captain and will again wear the No 6 jersey,” said Erasmus. “He’s fit and isn’t carrying any injuries.”

Erasmus also provided good news on the injury front after concerns about several players carrying minor injuries following last Saturday’s Test against Wales.

“Where we are currently standing with injuries is that Cheslin [Kolbe] has been cleared to play, and we’ll manage Edwill [van der Merwe], Faf [de Klerk], and [Makazole] Mapimpi this week, although they should be available for selection for the first Ireland Test,” Erasmus said.

The coach added that wing Canan Moodie, who had surgery to repair a fractured finger earlier in June, could also make a return to the national team in the next few weeks. 

With a handful of less experienced players and four potential debutants named in the 39-man squad announced on Tuesday, Erasmus re-emphasised the importance of building squad depth building up to the 2027 World Cup in Australia.

“We earmarked Jan-Hendrik Wessels from our elite player development system from under-15 level, when he was playing prop then,” Erasmus said. “We don’t have control over where the franchises select the players, but with him being able to play hooker and prop it offers us additional options among the forwards.

“Johan Grobbelaar was also one of the standout hookers in the United Rugby Championship this season for the Bulls, while Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu has also come through the ranks, and he has been part of our structures before with the SA A team and he understands our systems and slotted in with ease. We are a at a stage where we are trying to expose players to the Springbok environment as much as possible.

“We had four new capped players against Wales, and we have four debutants in this squad — Phepsi Buthelezi, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Johan Grobbelaar and Morné van den Berg — and there could be a few more against Portugal if we achieve our goals against Ireland, so we could have a healthy new crop of national players later in this season.” 

Looking ahead to the two Tests against Ireland, Erasmus refused to be drawn into the reported banter from the Irish saying: “If there’s one team that has the upper hand, it’s them. We haven’t beaten them since 2016.”

SA Rugby Communications