All Blacks Test: Kolisi says Boks will draw on energy of expectant fans

Springbok captain Siya Kolisi has enjoyed an excellent success rate as skipper of the national side over the last two years, but back-to-back losses have cut into his winning record a bit, if not his positivity.

Kolisi belatedly took over the captaincy in 2018 in one of Rassie Erasmus’s first masterstrokes and his record that year was understandably mixed given the depths to which Springbok rugby had sunk. In that first year South Africa won seven and lost six of their Tests under Kolisi.

But 2019 was nothing short of a triumph as the Springboks only lost one of their seven Tests with the then-Stormers flank at the helm. Five wins from eight Tests this year sees Kolisi’s overall winning ratio slip to 64%, pretty much on level terms with Jean de Villiers.

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The last time South Africa lost successive Tests was back in 2018 – against Argentina in Mendoza and Australia in Brisbane, and then versus New Zealand at Loftus Versfeld and England at Twickenham.

But with the losses against the Wallabies coming after two years of success and expectation, one might have thought these are the toughest times of Kolisi’s captaincy.

But Kolisi’s attitude is always team first and the 30-year-old is focused on how the team can get better.

“This has not been the most difficult time in my captaincy, although obviously it is very disappointing. But we have faced tougher challenges,” Kolisi said on the eve of Saturday’s Test against the All Blacks in Townsville (kick-off 9.05am).

“I just try to take it week-by week, obviously you don’t want to lose two in a row. So our focus is on what we have done wrong and how we can improve.

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“We’ve messed things up ourselves and the things we are normally good at we got wrong. So the focus is on our plan, what we are good at. We want to play our own style at our own pace.

“The last two weeks have been tough, but the biggest thing is that we get all our stuff right this weekend.”

Kolisi will be at the front of the Springbok group again when they run out to face the All Blacks haka with his usual intense stare. But within those muscular, powerful bodies, as tough and tenacious as a Staffy, beat hearts like the normal human being and the team know how important their success is to millions back at home.

“We can’t lie about it, we know how important rugby is, we know what people at home are expecting and want to see,” he said.

“That’s what we think about in our rooms, and it’s important to us too. We use that energy to focus on our game, it motivates us although we always give everything we can on the field.”