Springboks captain Siya Kolisi sidelined after another operation

Racing 92 and Springboks flanker Siya Kolisi will have another spell on the sidelines after undergoing an operation for an injury picked up at the weekend.

The 32-year-old sustained a hand issue during the Parisians’ 21-5 defeat to Bordeaux-Begles in the Top 14 on Saturday.

It was later revealed that it required surgery, and Kolisi duly went under the knife earlier in the week.

Success

In an Instagram post, the Springboks captain revealed that it all went to plan and that he should not be out for too long, writing: “Operation went well. I will be back soon!”

A definitive time frame has not been given, however, but Rugbyrama have reported that the double World Cup winner will miss ‘several weeks’.

It is a significant blow for Racing, who have struggled in the Top 14 over recent times and are on a run of five consecutive defeats.

That has seen them drop down to sixth in the table, level on points with La Rochelle and Pau, who are just outside the play-off places.

Kolisi will also be frustrated having missed a fair chunk of rugby over the past year. Fortunately for the back-rower, it is nowhere near as serious as the ACL tear which almost derailed his World Cup hopes and he will hopefully be back for the run-in.

The flanker had a miracle recovery from that knee injury, enabling him to captain South Africa at the global tournament in France.

He will therefore hope to have a similarly quicker-than-expected return this time around after recently revealing how everything fell into place during his rehab last year.

“No hiccups”

“I spoke to Rene (Springboks physio Rene Naylor) and her first words were, ‘fix it properly and I will do everything in my power to get you back in time’,” he told the Behind the Ruck podcast in February.

“There was a big team around me. Rene was at my house two days after the operation; we started straight away.

“I was fortunate; God was in charge every step of the way. I walked out of the hospital, number one. The doctor told me: ‘You don’t need a brace, you don’t need crutches, I will give you crutches just in case you want them.’

“That night after the operation, I was laying there, and I bent my leg to 95 degrees, and he’s like, ‘sometimes this takes people three weeks.’

“I walked out of the hospital; I stayed in Cape Town for three weeks and started doing rehab from then on.

“Every single step of the way, everything they’d seen in an ACL before, it wasn’t the same with me. There’s normally big swelling when you do this, but I had no hiccups.”

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