Kolisi: 'Ireland are a completely different team with Sexton' 

As a fellow late bloomer, the Springboks captain has watched in awe as Ireland's No.10 seamlessly returned to the fray in France 

READY TO RUMBLE: The two captains, Jonathan Sexton of Ireland and Siya Kolisi of South Africa, make their way out for last year's Aviva Stadium clash. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Siya Kolisi has become such a talismanic figure for, and in, South Africa that it is far too easy to forget how long it took to make himself part of the furniture, let alone the centrepiece of a side that would become the world champions.

Just 22 when he made his Test debut against Scotland in Nelspruit in 2013, he had to wade through another three years and 12 caps off the bench before earning a first start for his country. For a long time there he was a peripheral figure.

The run of 13 caps without a start was a record for a Springbok at the start of a Test career that he shared with former prop Coenie Oostzhuizen. Who could have known then that he would be the first black player to wear the Springbok armband?

His big chance came against Ireland in Cape Town in 2016 and, while they lost that one to Joe Schmidt’s tourists, the man from Port Elizabeth would start the next two games in the series. He has since amassed a total of 76 caps — and lifted the Webb Ellis trophy.

The belated start to his career on the biggest of stages mirrors that of his counterpart at the Stade de France on Saturday as Johnny Sexton was another man in his mid-twenties when he made the breakthrough that sent his career stratospheric. Both are now late bloomers with long-lasting legacies.

“He is a great leader for Ireland,” said Kolisi. “He is also an amazing player and an important player for them. You can see when he is there they are a completely different team. Same for his club. He is a very special person for the Irish team.

“Everything he has achieved, going to top points scorer, you can see what it meant. For him to be doing it at his age is remarkable. I would love to still be playing at 38, in a World Cup too. He is a huge player, you can see they take huge confidence from him.” 

The Bok skipper’s respect for Ireland is laced into every word and syllable and it's hardly a surprise given the trials the reigning Six Nations champions have subjected South Africa to in his own time on the scene.

Ireland could and really should have won that Test series in 2016 but they administered a punishing beating on the Springboks in Dublin just over a year later when a few late tries pushed the scoreline out to an historic 38-3.

The only meeting since was another Aviva Stadium encounter with the hosts just about edging a fascinating contest by three points from a team that was clearly in the midst of some internal tinkering and long-term planning at the time.

“We learned a lot,” said Kolisi of that day. “I thought we did well but not well enough to win obviously. We have changed a lot from that game and it is a proper time to play against them now. They are on fire, they are playing really well, and we are also hitting our stride.” 

The 32-year old was sharing his thoughts on Thursday morning at the squad’s sumptuous hotel near the commune of Presles about 50 kilometres north of Paris city centre, more than five hours before Andy Farrell revealed his matchday squad.

The suspicion was that Farrell would stick with a 5/3 bench split despite the Springboks’ norm-shattering preference for the 7/1 and that determination to row their own boat was something Kolisi had clearly noticed and liked.

“They don’t care who they are playing against, which is similar to us. We have a style of play. We have changed a bit of it but our foundations and systems we don’t hide away from. They will always be there, it is the small things that you tweak around it.”