News24 | ‘International rugby icon’ Kolisi defies odds after horror injury

Springbok captain Siya Kolisi during a training session at Twickenham Stoop in London on 22 August 2023. (Photo by Steve Haag/Gallo Images)

• Bok skipper Siya Kolisi has made an impressive recovery from a knee injury to lead the team at the Rugby World Cup in France.
• Kolisi admitted he was “really scared” that he wouldn’t make it to the World Cup.
• After training camps in Corsica and Toulon, the Boks begin their World Cup defence against Scotland in Marseille on 10 September.
• For more sports news, go to the News24 Sport front page. 

Siya Kolisi had difficulty speaking immediately after his Springbok team completed an emphatic 35-7 demolition of New Zealand’s All Blacks in their final warm-up match before the Rugby World Cup.

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It was not because he was choked up with emotion. He simply could not be heard above the cheers of South African supporters at London’s Twickenham stadium when he stepped up for his after-match interview.

“Thank you, thank you,” he said as he waited for the noise to subside.

Then he showed the instinctive ability to say the right thing that has helped make him, in the words of former All Blacks scrumhalf Justin Marshall, “an international rugby icon”.

Kolisi, 32, started his remarks by thanking the supporters.

“You remind us why we work so hard,” he said. “We do it for you.”

Kolisi’s appointment as Springbok captain in