Bok captain Kolisi in doubt for Cape Town Test against All Blacks

Springbok captain Siya Kolisi has emerged as a major doubt for the second Rugby Championship clash against New Zealand at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday. 

Kolisi, appeared at the post-match press conference with a swollen right eye. Coach Rassie Erasmus said the injury appears to be a fractured cheekbone while also indicating the medical team will do tests to determine its extent. 

“It looks like a fracture to me. I am not a medical doctor, I didn’t explain Eben’s injury [that well] on Tuesday but I do think it is a fracture.

“The doctor will definitely have to look at it because he doesn’t normally look like this,” explained Erasmus with a laugh. 

If Kolisi does not make it for Saturday’s Test, where the All Blacks will be out in full force to avoid two defeats in a row, Erasmus will have Marco van Staden available to fill in for him. 

When the Springboks beat Australia in the second Test in Perth recently, Erasmus rested Kolisi and the No 6 back row place went to Van Staden, with Pieter-Steph du Toit at openside flank. 

The win at Ellis Park means the Springboks remain the only undefeated team in the competition after three rounds after back-to-back wins over Australia in Brisbane and Perth. 

Another victory in Cape Town will see the Boks take a step in the right direction to winning the competition with three matches remaining. 

“Winning the Rugby Championship is very important and I would definitely love to win it, but we will definitely move players around next week and hopefully they make it, but we won’t get ahead of ourselves,” Erasmus said. 

“Everything didn’t go right today, and we’ll have a look at why we didn’t get out of our half at stages and why we didn’t capitalise on chances a few times. Our focus is only on next week.” 

Kolisi said his teammates showed composure as they trailed by 10 points with as many minutes remaining before late tries from replacements Kwagga Smith and Grant Williams turned the game on its head to see the Boks run out 31-27 winners. 

“Whenever we are behind, we never panic,” the captain said. “We have been in far worse positions before and have come back.

“When they scored first in the second half [to put New Zealand 19-11 ahead] we came together and we said, ‘Cool, amazing, they’ve scored an intercept try, let’s go to the next set’. Nobody panicked. 

“We have so many cool heads and leaders. If I’m not talking, Eben’s talking or if it’s not him it’s Pieter-Steph or even the young guys with just a couple of caps. 

“They’re given the licence by the coach to speak because rugby knowledge isn’t measured by the number of caps you have — if you see something, say it. And that’s the great thing about this team today, we never panicked.”