Kolisi injury and team delay: ‘Rassie will have to answer,’ says Daan Human

Whether Springbok captain Siya Kolisi will be fit to face the All Blacks in the second Rugby Championship Test between the two teams at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday will only be revealed on Thursday, after scrum coach Daan Human would not divulge anything on Monday.

Just before Monday’s scheduled Springbok press conference, an announcement was sent out by SA Rugby confirming that the team announcement, which normally takes place at midday on Tuesday, had been shifted to Thursday morning.

That could be to give Kolisi and other players with knocks, such as Kurt-Lee Arendse who went off in the second half of the first Test with concussion, time to recover, after there was a bit of a furore last week when Eben Etzebeth was left out of the match 23, but was then put in a day later after being passed fit.

At Monday’s presser Human was quizzed on whether Kolisi would be ready to face the All Blacks, and what the reason for the delayed team announcement was, but deftly passed the buck to coach Rassie Erasmus.

“So far, they are still busy assessing the possibility of him being available to for us in the week. We will see how he goes through this week. He’s important for us, but if he’s not (available), then (the) next man in,” said Human.

“I don’t think there’s a particular reason (for the team announcement delay). Let me put it this way, Rassie will answer that one.”

Kolisi out?

Kolisi could be ruled out of the match with a facial fracture, which he picked up during the game when he was hit in the face by a high shoulder from All Blacks loose forward Sam Cane.

The TMO apparently checked the offence and controversially ruled that it was only worthy of a penalty, so Cane will not be cited for the offence, with him likely breathing a sigh of relief after he was red carded in last year’s World Cup final for a high hit on Jesse Kriel.

Human wouldn’t be drawn on the decision of the officials saying: “It was a proper knock. I can’t go into what the refs and the TMO saw. We’ve just seen what we’ve seen. Hopefully Siya can recover soon and be fit to play the game.

“It’s up to them what they decide, if it was a red card or a yellow card. I don’t think we will ever go into the ref’s decisions or World Rugby’s decisions on that. It’s in the past and we are looking forward to Saturday.”

Human also backed the All Blacks to come storming back after their loss at Ellis Park over the past weekend, as they did in their second game against Argentina after losing the first.

“The All Blacks made a massive comeback against Argentina after going down in their first match of the competition. They are a world-class team, so we are expecting them to fight back equally hard this week,” explained Human.

“As a side, we have a lot of respect for them, and we know what they are capable of doing. That said, we are concentrating on our game and to control what we can in the game this weekend.”