Captain Courageous leads from the front 

Toby Shapshak writes that Siya Kolisi, who will captain the Springboks as they battle to retain the Rugby World Cup, has become the Nelson Mandela of his generation.

As the country’s first black leader of what was once considered an apartheid team, Siya Kolisi is arguably South Africa’s most inspirational Springbok captain.

He bounced back from a severe knee injury in just four months to silence his critics with a pair of outstanding performances in the World Cup warm-up games against Wales and New Zealand in recent weeks.

Even before the games, his passionate singing of the national anthem showed the determination of a player ready to give it his all on the field.

Kolisi’s abrasive physicality, his eye for the offload and his sheer tirelessness mark him as a menacing number six flanker against any team in the world.

During the Wales warm-up game, he tracked back 50 metres for a try-saving tackle.

He scored the first try in the record 35-7 demolition of the All Blacks at Twickenham.

What an incredible journey it has been for a boy from the impoverished Eastern Cape township of Zwide outside Gqeberha (then known as Port Elizabeth) where he was born to teenage parents and lived with his late grandmother.

His extraordinary talent was spotted when he was 12 and he was offered a scholarship at Grey High School in Gqeberha, one of South Africa’s great nurseries of sporting talent.

Kolisi was signed by Western Province and moved to Cape Town where he was spotted by none other than Rassie Erasmus, the ex-Springbok on his way to becoming a coaching great, who became Kolisi’s mentor.

Kolisi was made Stormers captain in 2017 for the Super Rugby competition with his best friend, lock Eben Etzebeth, as his vice-captain.

A year later Erasmus handed Kolisi the captaincy of the Springboks — a 42-39 defeat of England at Ellis Park.

That game started ominously, with England running up a 22-point lead after 20 minutes. But the ferocity of the Springbok pack and the intensity of all the players that have come to define the Rassie-Siya era saw them bounce back.

Kolisi’s moment of glory came two years later in 2019 when he lifted the William Webb Ellis trophy in Japan after the Boks thrashed England 32-12 in the World Cup final.

The man is an inspiration on the field and off the field.

Married to Rachel and with two kids of his own, Kolisi has adopted his two younger siblings. The Kolisi clan, now South African royalty, are moving to France after the World Cup, where he will play for Top 14 club Racing92.

Before then, he has the opportunity to make history. If South Africa take the title once more in France, they will be only the second team ever to win back to back World Cups. New Zealand won in 2011 and 2015 under the legendary Richie McCaw.

Kolisi will be only the second captain ever to win the Cup twice. He will do it with the same magical number six that Mandela had on his back, when Madiba borrowed captain Francois Pienaar’s jersey after South Africa won the World Cup for the first time in 1995.

And it will feel just as good.

Shapshak has been sports editor of the Mail & Guardian and has written rugby for AFP, The Observer in London, and several South African newspapers.

Pictured above: Siya Kolisi

Image source: Springboks