Erasmus backs Kolisi to continue leading Boks, Etzebeth close to return

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has backed Siya Kolisi to continue leading the team for the foreseeable future and believes there is no reason why he won’t be in the mix come the 2027 World Cup in Australia.

Erasmus was talking at a Bok press conference in Cape Town on Wednesday, and admitted that although they have a number of aging players in the group, they would continue to pick them as long as they stayed fit and in form.

Stormers loose forward Deon Fourie, at 38, is the oldest member of the extended Bok group, and the fact that he was picked to attend the alignment camp in Cape Town next week, suggests that he is in line to add to his 13 Bok caps, the last of which came in the 2023 World Cup final.

He would be 41 at the start of the next World Cup, while players like Willie le Roux and Trevor Nyakane, both currently 35, would be 38, and Makazole Mapimpi (34), would be 37.

Upcoming season

Whether any of those guys will make it to the showpiece event remains to be seen, but three out of the four should be in action for the Boks at some stage over the coming international season, with only Nyakane expected to be ruled out completely due to injury.

Kolisi (33) will be a much more manageable 36 at the next World Cup, although if he will still be first choice and captaining the team is yet to be determined.

“I know captaincy is a big thing in South Africa. When I started out (as a Bok player) it wasn’t a big thing for me because I always thought we all take ownership and support the captain,” explained Erasmus.

“But the person that Siya has become in SA has changed my mind about that. Our feeling is, if a guy is 34, 35, 36 and injury-free, and is the fittest he can be, as long as he is the number one in that position, he will stay captain.

“Obviously there have been some other options, Eben (Etzebeth), Bongi (Mbonambi), Pieter-Steph (du Toit) have all been (captain). There have been a couple. But if Siya is fit, healthy and in the best possible shape that he can be, I don’t think there will be a change this year.”

Etzebeth return

Erasmus then addressed the worrying absence of Etzebeth from the Sharks setup, after he was concussed back in December, and has still not made a competitive return to action.

However, the Bok coach explained it was nothing to be worried about, as the Bok enforcer would be back on the park soon and available for the team come the start of the international season.

“I’ve actually visited Pierre Viviers, who’s the concussion guru, just to get a proper catch-up so I can better understand concussion protocols again,” said Erasmus.

“When a guy is totally concussion-free and he starts from a clean sheet again, that’s what we always want. Eben must just get to that stage now where they say he’s concussion-free.

“He doesn’t have any symptoms and has gone through all the processes and, according to what I’ve heard, he’ll be one of the players that will be available. He’s not yet ready to play but he’s very close to getting ready to play.

“Just once that sheet is clean and he’s concussion-free, then it’s back to normal again. Obviously guys who’ve got one concussion after another, there’s some implications there. But we see Eben playing for us this year.”