Springboks coaches ‘don’t have the right’ to retire players as plans to avoid ‘dark period’ detailed by Siya Kolisi
Springboks flanker Siya Kolisi and an inset of Mzwandile Stick.
Siya Kolisi is confident that he will still be in the Springboks’ mix when they attempt a Rugby World Cup three-peat in Australia in 2027.
The Bok skipper is set to make his first appearance in Green and Gold this year after missing the first four games due to a nigglesome neck injury.
At the age of 34, the back-rower is entering the twilight of his career but has altered his previous plans of hanging up his Test boots, which he originally set in 2023.
Kolisi’s end goal
Ahead of his 93rd appearance for the Springboks, against Georgia in Nelspruit, Kolisi has confirmed his end goal before he brings his international career to a close and has his eyes on representing the Green and Gold in Australia in 2027.
“My body feels good,” he told reporters on Friday.
“It’s all about seeing how it goes year by year and game by game. But that is the end goal. I still want to be there.”
By that time, Kolisi will be 36 years old, but that does not concern him at all, and neither does it for the Springboks coaches.
“Coach Rassie has made it clear that you can be 36, but if you are the fittest 36-year-old, that’s all that you need,” he said.
“I don’t need to be the fittest out of everyone. It’s all about what I can do and produce on the field. I still feel as good as I feel today. I think I’ll be there because of the coaching and conditioning staff and medical teams.”
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Assistant coach Mzwandile Stick confirmed that the coaches wouldn’t be making the decision for any of the players, echoing Rassie Erasmus‘ previous sentiments that if a player is still meeting the right requirements.
“It would be unfair for coaches to force players to retire,” he said.
“Our job is to coach the players, and the more that the players produce [the more they stick around]. Siya is in good shape.
“Look at the age of Schalk Brits and Duane Vermeulen, we took them to the World Cup, and they were still producing what we needed from them.
“When we started the camps in Johannesburg with heavy fitness tests, Siya had one of the best scores in the squad. To us, age really doesn’t matter that much as long as you keep producing and you can handle the load that we’ve got during the week, because the sessions that we are doing are very, very tough.
“If they produce the performances and keep up with our program and training, they can be 38 or 40 and will still get selected.
“We don’t have the right to look at the age of a player.”
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Rassie’s plan
Last year, Erasmus made use of 50 players during the season, with that number under threat already in 2025 as the head coach once again tests the depth of the Springboks player pool.
Kolisi understands the reasoning behind the decision, which has also helped extend the careers of many of the double World Cup winners.
He pointed to the post-2015 World Cup era of Bok rugby when a plethora of players brought their international careers to a close around the same time, which left a gulf of experience to the next generation and resulted in a torrid run of results and a slide in the world rankings.
Erasmus has plans to avoid a repeat of this occurrence, which Kolisi revealed.
“This year, there have already been 46 players in four matches. Players want to play every weekend, but we understand there’s a whole plan going forward for the future of South African Rugby,” he explained.
“Everybody wants a cap, you want to play while you’re still hot, but Rassie keeps telling us that the coaches keep swapping the team because we have to think about the depth and the future of Springboks Rugby.
“We had a year where everyone stopped playing at the same and went through a dark period. He is honest with us in that regard. He wants to leave the Springboks in a better place when we do finish.
“We keep that in mind and what is nice about it is that he has open conversations with us and says, ‘We want to win, adapt, get better and innovate, but give opportunities too.'”
