Siya Kolisi ran full out at training on Monday, did the same again on Tuesday, and felt nothing in the hamstring. That was the whole test. He passed it, and the Springbok captaincy went straight back to him for Saturday’s second Test against the All Blacks at DHL Stadium.
Pieter-Steph du Toit had the job for two days. He was named captain on Monday for a match that will already be the biggest of his career on its own terms, and he handed the armband back on Tuesday without argument.
Rassie Erasmus confirmed both calls to the media.
Rassie Erasmus, Springbok head coach:
“Siya will be starting and he will captain the team.”
The injury was never the disaster it looked like when he limped off in Buenos Aires.
Rassie Erasmus, Springbok head coach:
“It was a hamstring niggle, not something major like he had before 2019 or 2023. It was a grade two tear, and it takes a little time to recover, and that’s why we’ve been cautious. Last week it was touch and go, but we told him he had to run full out on Monday and he did so on Tuesday as well without any discomfort, so he’s good to go.”
Siya Kolisi slots into a loose trio with Du Toit and Jasper Wiese at No 8. Paul de Villiers, who was in line to start with Kolisi still bracketed, drops out of the matchday squad entirely.
WHY SIYA KOLISI GETS THE ARMBAND BACK
The captaincy switch was never purely about fitness. It was about clearing Du Toit’s diary. Saturday is his 100th Test, the eleventh Springbok to reach the mark, and Erasmus decided that carrying the leadership load on top of that was one job too many for one afternoon.
Rassie Erasmus, Springbok head coach:
“Pieter-Steph just took the captaincy for us on Monday so Siya could fully concentrate on his recovery and his work, and I had a chat with Pieter-Steph today and he agreed. In this match you probably don’t want captaincy responsibilities, with the 100 to think about, and on top of that needing to play well, so Siya is our captain.”
The rest of the reasoning was simpler.
Rassie Erasmus, Springbok head coach:
“The 23 guys who played together against Argentina played really well, and it’s not just his game that is good, he’s a very inspirational person who means a lot to this team on and off the field.”
Ox Nché reaches 50 Tests in the same fixture, so the front row and the flank both carry a milestone into a match South Africa cannot afford to lose.
That is the part nobody in the squad is dressing up. The All Blacks won the opening Test at Ellis Park 33-16, scoring five tries in a performance that punished a Springbok side who spent long stretches of the night on top and came away with nothing to show for it.
Erasmus reviewed it with the group on Monday and did not hide behind the scoreboard.
Rassie Erasmus, Springbok head coach:
“When we reviewed the game on Monday, we felt we were very dominant throughout up until about the 60-minute mark, and we were just a bit inaccurate in a few departments. That’s what this week is for. Luckily in this competition we’ve still got three chances to keep going and get our game better.”
Then he went further than most coaches would in a press conference three days out from a must-win Test.
Rassie Erasmus, Springbok head coach:
“A lot of the things we asked the players to do, they did. The plan didn’t win the game for us, but it’s definitely also not the players who lost the game. I’m taking responsibility for some of the decisions we made. We’re a group, but I think it’s a relevant point to explain why we lost, and some of it falls more on me than on the players to be honest.”
“A coach who takes the bullet in public buys himself a changeroom that will run through a wall for him on Saturday!” – 🎙️Jay
The maths of the Castle Double Malt Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series is unforgiving. One down with the second Test in Cape Town, a loss on Saturday ends any chance of winning the thing outright. The best available outcome from that point would be a draw.
Erasmus was asked whether the pressure was getting to him and did not pretend otherwise.
Rassie Erasmus, Springbok head coach:
“I’m definitely nervous again. We’re one game down, and if we don’t win this game, we can’t win the series, we can only draw it. Nerves are there for sure. But we’ve been under this kind of pressure a lot, and hopefully we can turn things around this weekend.”
So the picture at DHL Stadium on Saturday is a captain back from a grade two tear, a flanker running out for his hundredth Test with nothing on his mind but playing, a prop reaching fifty, and a coach who has already told the country the last one was on him.
Kick-off is at 17h10.
The match is broadcast live on SuperSport.
