South Africa: Injured Kolisi to remain captain of Springboks at World Cup until ruled out

South Africa’s director of rugby, Rassie Erasmus, said on Wednesday that injured Springboks captain Siya Kolisi will definitely miss the Rugby Championship in July but could play in the pre-World Cup matches next month.

“Our aim is to get Siya involved in the warm-up games,” the coach of the 2019 Rugby World Cup winning team told a news conference in Pretoria.

After the Rugby Championship games against Australia, New Zealand and Argentina, South Africa will play Argentina, Wales and New Zealand in August to prepare for the global exhibition.

The Springboks begin their World Cup defense in France on September 10 against Scotland in Marseille and also face Romania, Ireland, the world’s top team, and Tonga in Pool B.

Flanker Kolisi was seriously injured while playing for the Sharks against Munster in April at the United Rugby Championship in Durban.

At first, it was feared that the loose forward would miss from September 8 to October 28. about the World Cup to be held.

After surgery in Cape Town, Kolisi is recovering faster than expected and South Africa head coach Jacques Nienaber has said he expects the skipper to feature at the World Cup.

South Africa will name a 33-man World Cup squad on August 8, three days after the first World Cup warm-up, against Argentina in Buenos Aires.

As well as leading the Springboks to World Cup glory in Japan, Kolisi captained the green and gold to victory in the 2021 series against the British and Irish Lions.

He played the first of 75 caps for the Springboks in 2013 against Scotland and five years later became his country’s first black Test captain against England.

Erasmus also said South Africa will field their squads for the first two Rugby Championship matches against Australia in Pretoria on July 8 and New Zealand in Auckland on July 15.

About 15 Springboks will fly to Auckland well in advance of the second-round match to overcome the large time difference between the countries – New Zealand is 10 hours ahead of South Africa.

Erasmus followed a similar course before the last World Cup, when the South Africans beat Australia and the former opted for a draw against New Zealand.

South Africa then sent their strongest team to Argentina, won convincingly and went top of the Rugby Championship table.

Forty Springboks began training camp in Pretoria on Monday, which will continue until June 29.

South Africa have won the World Cup three times, which is the same as New Zealand. Australia has won the championship twice and England once.