Rassie reaches the only conclusion he could by confirming Siya Kolisi as Bok captain

Springbok captain Siya Kolisi during the Summer International match between New Zealand and South Africa at Twickenham on 25 August 2023. The Boks will meet Wales at the London venue on 22 June 2024 in the Qatar Airways Cup. (Photo: Alex Davidson/Getty Images)

By Craig Ray

26 Jun 2024

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus confirmed Siya Kolisi will captain the team in 2024 after casting doubt on the situation a few months ago.

‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Despite publicly musing on whether to change his captain in 2024 earlier this year, Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus did the only logical thing – and on Wednesday confirmed Siya Kolisi would lead the team again.

Erasmus raised eyebrows with the comment at a media session in March. It was always a long shot that Kolisi, who made it clear he still wanted to play Test rugby, would be jettisoned.

rassie kolisi Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus. (Photo: Ashley Vlotman / Gallo Images)

In 1996, newly appointed Bok coach Andre Markgraaff unceremoniously dumped 1995 World Cup-winning skipper Francois Pienaar five Tests into the new season. Pienaar was concussed in the first of three Tests against the All Blacks and was never selected again.

Although Pienaar’s injury was used as the reason for losing the captaincy, the reality was that Markgraaff wanted to go in a new direction. Pienaar’s misfortune provided a convenient way out.

If Erasmus seriously entertained changing his captain this year, it would have come with an even more serious backlash. No one is irreplaceable, but Kolisi was very good at Rugby World Cup 2023, his team won the tournament, and he was still available.

It would have taken an exceptionally brave man to axe the darling of South African rugby over something as trivial as his location. “I prefer to have my captain locally based as that allows for more interaction,” was Erasmus’ reasoning behind his thought process on a change to the captaincy.

Sense prevails

Even with all the goodwill and love South Africans have for Erasmus, trying to sell the axing of Kolisi as skipper on the basis of being based in Paris was problematic. Especially when more than half the first-choice team plays club rugby outside of the country anyway.

It could have been career-threatening – even for Rassie.

Sense has prevailed, as it was always bound to, and Kolisi will take his position as Bok skipper for the massive two-Test series against Ireland. And he will take the reins with not only Erasmus’s blessing, but with the coach’s full endorsement after some scathing comments from Racing 92 president Jackie Lorenzetti about Kolisi’s fitness and form.

The disgruntled club president, who gushed over signing Kolisi in the days after RWC 2023, has turned on his marquee signing.

“Kolisi had a remarkable start to the season, where he was a unifier off the field,” Lorenzetti said in a rant reported in French media following his team’s Top 14 semifinal loss to Bordeaux-Begles a few weeks ago.

“The injury layoff was harmful to him. He gained weight, lost shape and yesterday [against Bordeaux] he was transparent. In the back row, we used to have an ultra-present warrior, a warrior called Wenceslas Lauret.

“For the moment, Siya is not making us forget Wenceslas. But we think that next year, that will change.” If there is a next year for Kolisi in Paris.

Erasmus had obviously heard the comments and used his media appearance in Pretoria on Wednesday to defend his skipper.

“Siya will be captain [of the Springboks], he will be six flank and Siya has no injury. Siya is not fat and Siya is not transparent,” an irritated Erasmus said.

As for the rest of the 39-man squad Erasmus named for the two Tests against Ireland and one against Portugal, there was some good and bad news.

Wing Cheslin Kolbe and fullback Willie le Roux have both recovered from injuries and are in the mix for selection for the first Ireland Test at Loftus on 6 July.

Canan Moodie, who was not named in the squad earlier this week, should be back from a broken finger and will be considered for the second Ireland Test in Durban on 13 July.

But wing Edwill van der Merwe, who made a superb Test debut against Wales at Twickenham last weekend, scoring a try in the 41-13 win, has a shoulder niggle and is being treated as a casualty currently. Fellow wing Makazole Mapimpi is also struggling with a hamstring strain.

Despite the inevitable niggles, the squad has depth with a sprinkling of exciting newcomers such as utility back Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, hooker Johan Grobbelaar, Van der Merwe, and scrumhalf Morne van den Berg.

The Ireland campaign will see the Boks staffed by old hands but the one-off Test against RWC 2023 darlings Portugal will give Erasmus a chance to experiment with the youngsters. He confirmed as much.

“We are trying to expose guys to our Springbok environment as much as possible,” Erasmus said.

“The group is 39, but the group is actually 46 because we are not only preparing for Ireland, we are also preparing for Portugal.

“It looks like four scrumhalves, but Faf [de Klerk] does have a niggle. So we actually have three scrumhalves.

“Sometimes I can understand that people are upset about Elrigh [Louw], Siya Masuku, Ruben [van Heerden], Wilco [Louw]. But all of these boys, hopefully, if things go well against Ireland, can play against Portugal.

“Wilco is on the standby list. The thing is you’ve got Frans Malherbe and Vincent Koch who have delivered. And then you’ve got Trevor Nyakane who played in a World Cup Final.

“We will look at Trevor now. It’s not to say Trevor, or any of these players, can’t fall out of the system.

“This is a group. We can always swap somebody if someone has a niggle or is not doing well.

“I do think our depth is healthy. Last year we had one flyhalf at the World Cup. Now there are five guys that we can put there.” DM

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Sense prevails