Springboks reveal the severity of Siya Kolisi’s injury as Jesse Kriel ‘didn’t see’ the captaincy call coming
Springboks captain Siya Kolisi and Jesse Kriel.
Springboks assistant coach Mzawandile Stick has revealed the severity of Siya Kolisi’s injury after the double World Cup-winning captain withdrew from the match against the Barbarians.
On Friday, SA Rugby confirmed that Jesse Kriel would replace Kolisi as captain of the side for the fixture against the invitational team with Marco van Staden added to the starting XV.
Kolisi’s injury
At the time of the announcement, Kolisi’s injury was described as a ‘niggle’ with Stick providing further clarity that the flanker may have been fit in time to play on Saturday but the coaching staff decided not to risk Kolisi.
The Springboks assistant confirmed that Kolisi is struggling with a stiff neck but added that he doesn’t believe it to be anything serious.
“As a team we try and give players the best opportunity to be 100% on Saturday,” Stick told reporters.
“For Siya, it’s just a stiff neck, I don’t think there’s a need for us to take a risk.
“The chances are by the time we go out for the kick-off of the game that Siya will probably be loose and 100%. But it’s situations like this that we always plan to build more leaders in our team.
“Now we have Jesse as our captain so congratulations to him, he has always been a leader so it was an easy call for us to make.
“We didn’t want to push Siya, I don’t think it’s a major thing, it’s just a stiff neck and we don’t want to take a risk.
“But I am excited to see Jesse’s leadership skills. He has always been vocal and led by example so for him to get an opportunity to lead the team I think it’s something that is great for us.”
Captain Kriel
With Kolisi missing the match, Kriel has been elevated from vice-captain to captain for the fixture and spoke of what the appointment means for him.
“I’m extremely excited and honoured,” he said.
“Not much changes for me overall, we all have our roles in the team.
“The big thing about this Springboks team and environment is taking ownership in your role and that in itself kind of sets you up to develop as a leader and to become a leader, whether you’ve got 100 test matches or playing your first game.
“They’re all leaders in their own ways and they take ownership of what they need to do in the team that in itself over the years has helped me to develop. I’ve been surrounded by really strong leaders in Siya, Eben, Handre and I can go on, so I’ve been very fortunate to watch their example and learn from them.
“Tomorrow not much changes and I’m just really excited for the challenge.”
Meanwhile, Stick says that the appointment took Kriel by surprise but added that the midfielder has always been a leader in the squad.
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He further explained why the coaches decided to remove Kolisi from the team after weighing up whether to give him another day or two to prove his fitness.
“I know one thing for sure, he [Kriel] didn’t see it coming,” he added.
“That’s one thing I really enjoy about how we operate in our system is the player first trains and works hard to be in the team before they become captains.
“I enjoy that about Jesse, even if he’s not in the best 23, he always puts in the work and makes sure that he helps the team.
“We probably could have given Siya the opportunity to recover but that’s not how we operate, we want to make sure that we coach the players so if Siya misses the Wednesday training session, and he didn’t tick the box when it comes to how we to defend on Saturday. Meanwhile, Jesse has been there since we started our camps and he was going through one of the toughest fitness tests.”
