Siya Kolisi praises RG Snyman for role in making World Cup

RECOVERY: Siya Kolisi. Pic: ©INPHO/Steve Haag Sports/Steve Haag

Siya Kolisi has praised Munster’s RG Snyman and more of his Springbok colleagues for the crucial roles they played in ensuring South Africa’s captain would make it back from injury in time for this World Cup.

The 32-year old suffered a partial tear of his anterior cruciate ligament against Munster when playing for the Sharks in April. It looked bad for him then in terms of making the global tournament but he underwent surgery and went about the rehab process.

His wife took to the period post-injury with a greater degree of positivity than the man himself but when the medical team looked at the injury and offered a similar view Kolisi was ready to do what it took to be available.

“The nice thing is that the Springbok medical team, when the doctor said it was possible, they all said do this injury properly, don’t do half jobs. Make sure you look after your long-term, not just try and make it for the World Cup, which gave me lots of confidence.

“And the Sharks medical team also, they actually had done the same thing for Pieter-Steph [du Toit] and he played in three months, I played in four months. He came back in three months and played a club rugby game from the same doctor so I had to work hard.” 

Kolisi did the majority of his recovery in Springbok camp and took heart from the work he saw being done by his colleagues amid the heat and the altitude in Pretoria. And from the experiences of teammates who had been through similar.

Among them was Snyman who suffered two serious knee injuries with Munster and spoke earlier this week about his journey in returning to rugby and the fact that his 80 minutes against Wales last month was a first since the 2019 World Cup.

“The support from (Snyman), who has been through it for a long time, Handré Pollard who has been the same thing, and Pieter Steph: if I didn’t have them around me I don’t think I would be here because every time I felt doubt, like I wasn’t going to make it, they said ‘no, where you are now, I was far behind that’ . So it is great to be with this group.

“We support each other in different ways and that’s why even if it wasn’t the World Cup I still would have worked hard because to wear the Springbok jersey I can never take it for granted. It is special, it is an amazing environment. I am grateful to teammates and coaches and for the medical teams at the Springboks and at the Sharks.”