Siya Kolisi – ‘Flight home much easier this time’

Editor

Springboks captain Siya Kolisi had good cause to smile when his side arrived back in South Africa with a rare All Blacks scalp in the back pocket as a result of Saturday’s 36-34 Rugby Championship win in Wellington.

It was a lot different to returning home on the back of the 0-57 loss they suffered last year.

“The flight this time was much easier coming home with a win, the last time it was tough,” he told waiting media in Johannesburg.

“It’s a great feeling. We are excited and happy, but we know there is a lot of work ahead for us.”

South Africa are looking to make the result more than a one-off. They want to string together wins in Port Elizabeth against Australia and in Pretoria against the All Blacks.

Kolisi said: “That’s the tough part, the part we spoke about after the game. That is what we need to do. We said it’s the best game defensively we played and we took our opportunities. The most important thing now is building from that.

“I think for us, it is a simple thing, we just have to keep on working hard. The coach said it afterwards, our hard work got us the win and a bit of luck. We are just going to keep on working hard and wanting to do the right thing.

“All the coach asked was to keep on growing. We grew a little bit in this game and that is what we want to keep on doing.”

Kolisi said the management had put the responsibility on the players to turn the result around after the disappointment of their loss to Australia, and the flanker was aware something special was happening for the side.

“You know when you know. We felt it, and I knew it,” he added.

“I could see the guys were defending well. Obviously you are nervous and sometimes you can get a bit of luck in the game, and sometimes you get that luck in the game. We were nervous but confident at the same time that the guys will make the tackle.”