Boks v All Blacks: ‘World class Kolisi’ good to go, despite broken nose

Despite having a fractured nose, Springbok captain Siya Kolisi is fired up and fully ready to lead out the team in their second Rugby Championship Test against the All Blacks at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday (5pm).

Kolisi took a heavy blow to the face when he was high tackled by New Zealand flank Sam Cane over the past weekend, and although he came off the field with a swollen face, the injury wasn’t severe enough to immediately rule him out of playing on Saturday.

Bok coach Rassie Erasmus on Thursday explained the situation involving Kolisi and his injured nose.

“It’s a nose fracture and he had two options. It has to be reset, so he could have done that now and he would have been out for three weeks. Or the doc said he could wait two weeks and then put it back in place, so we gave Siya the option of playing now and getting it reset at a later date and that is what he decided to do.

“He is a world-class player and captain, and he adds immense value to the team with the way he leads by example and galvanises the team when the pressure is on. So we are happy he is available.”

Kolisi ready

Erasmus was also quizzed on whether there was any danger of the injury becoming more serious or if Kolisi would be a bit weary of contact because of it, but he immediately allayed those fears.

“We asked Siya on Sunday after he had all the scans if he would be half hearted going into contact because his nose and cheek was sore and swollen, and he said, ‘no let’s go’,” explained Erasmus.

“That’s why we didn’t want to say anything on Tuesday (the usual team announcement day) because we wanted him to get through some training sessions and we didn’t want another Eben situation (where a lot of foreign media complained about Etzebeth making the match 23 after not being named at first).

“Internally we announced him starting bracketed with Marco (van Staden). He then went through all the contact sessions on Monday, he went right through (training) on Tuesday and he is fully ready to play.

“The only problem would have been if he was hesitant, because it (the nose) can’t break further, it just has to be put in place, but he is (completely) ready.

Not malicious

Erasmus also absolved Cane of any serious wrongdoing in the incident, saying that the All Blacks flank could have been punished a bit more, but that there was no malicious intent in the action and that they were happy to put it to bed.

“Sam broke his neck in that win over us at Loftus (in 2018) and I went and visited him (in hospital) on the Monday morning because New Zealand (team) had to fly back,” said Erasmus.

“I broke my jaw in Sydney, so I know how lonely it gets (injured) in a foreign country. So I know him a bit more than some of the other All Blacks (players). To be honest I don’t think he did any of that (high hit on Kolisi) on purpose.

“I think a yellow card or a penalty might have been appropriate, but when he came to us afterwards (to apologise) I said we aren’t going to cite (for dangerous play). When you look at the tackle, yes it could have been lower … but many of us can still work on that. But I don’t think he went for Siya maliciously.

“Sometimes it goes for you and sometimes it goes against you. He got red carded in the World Cup final (for a high hit on Jesse Kriel), so it wouldn’t have been nice for him to get a red card again.”