‘You have to be your own biggest critic,’ says SA’s top player Kolisi

SA Rugby’s Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus seems to have lined up a possible change in career if the whole rugby thing doesn’t work out as he turned journalist during the 2021 SA Rugby Player of the Year interview on Thursday.

With newly crowned Player of the Year Siya Kolisi in the hot seat being interviewed by the various media houses, Erasmus surprisingly popped up with a thought-provoking question for the Springbok captain.

Erasmus mentioned the challenges Kolisi has had over the years in proving himself to the SA rugby public and asked: “What would you say to young or old players when negative stuff is said about them or when they are written off and told they shouldn’t be in the team.”

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Kolisi, as always, was brilliantly prepared and provided an inspiring answer for up and coming and established rugby players playing the game in the country, highlighting the need to focus on oneself before letting what anyone else says in.

“Coach, I think if you can manage to take comments on board, both the good and bad, that’s fine. But the harshest critic has to be yourself at the end of the day,” Kolisi replied to Erasmus.

“You need to look at yourself because you know the processes and preparation required to perform at your best and you have to ask yourself, have I worked hard enough.

“That is the most important thing before reading any comments. Sometimes things don’t always work out exactly as you’d like, but in the Bok camp, the way we worked never changed no matter who we played against or what happened.

“So yes, you have to be your own biggest critic before anyone else, and sometimes you have to take criticism on the chin, see what you’ve done to prepare and perhaps what you could have done better.”

Kolisi continued: “Focus on yourself, believe in yourself and realise that sometimes your form will waver. I experienced that before the 2019 World Cup, but you just told me to keep working hard, to get myself fit, and that the form would then return. That helped a lot.

“Sometimes you just have to go back and play club rugby or for your franchise to find a way back to playing your best.”

Erasmus only returned to duty earlier this month after completing part of his ban from World Rugby, however he is still banned from match day activities and media engagements until the end of September.

However, that ban did not include him playing the role of media, allowing him to question Kolisi during the interview.