FREE TO READ | Inside Sport shows how Siya Kolisi wears his heart on his sleeve for sport in SA

Springbok captain Siya Kolisi’s energy and positivity is infectious. And in a year where international women’s sport has taken its rightful spotlight, Kolisi has been front and centre as its biggest cheerleader. He sent Banyana Banyana an emotive video message as they embarked on their historic Fifa Women’s World Cup odyssey to Australia and New Zealand, where they reached the knockout stages for the first time.

And he was there in the crowd in his Proteas’ netball shirt, singing and dancing as Bongi Msomi’s Proteas played in the Netball World Cup. The Proteas couldn’t quite pull it off on home soil, but their spirit and guts in coming back from the dead to snatch a draw against archrivals New Zealand will long be remembered.

While Kolisi is electric in the stands, it is on the field in his number 6 Springbok jersey where South Africans want and need him most. As he did before the last Rugby World Cup in 2019 in Japan, Kolisi seems to have miraculously recovered from a serious injury to lead the Springboks at the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.

Can Siya and the Springboks lift the golden William Webb Ellis trophy again in France? While there are plenty of challengers to the Bok crown in 2023, Stuart Hess writes that coach Jacques Nienaber has plenty of strength to pull it off again, and the Boks will be among the tournament favourites.

While the Springboks are looking for a World Cup repeat, Temba Bavuma’s Proteas soon go in search of the ICC Cricket World Cup holy grail again, approaching a tournament that has forever eluded them. The women of South African sport have shone brightly on the world stage, and now it’s the turn of the Springbok and Proteas men to see if they can end the sporting year with a bang.