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Freedom Cup opportunity makes this huge, says Siya

football06 September 2024 12:50| © SuperSport
By:Gavin Rich
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Siya Kolisi © Gallo Images

Siya Kolisi is going through the pain barrier to face the All Blacks on Saturday and that sums up the Springbok captain’s attitude to a game that is not just about getting a firm grip on the Castle Lager Rugby Championship Cup but also achieving something this group of players hasn’t before.

The double World Cup-winning Bok skipper sustained a painful broken nose, initially assumed to be a cheek fracture, in last week’s exciting come from behind 31-27 win over the New Zealanders in Johannesburg.

Coach Rassie Erasmus, in looking at Kolisi’s face, which ended up that way because of a high hit from Sam Cane, felt the flanker would almost certainly miss the Cape Town game.

However, Kolisi confirmed at the captain’s press conference at the team hotel on Friday afternoon that he had got through all the practices this week without any ill effects from the injury.

“I am fine, there is nothing you can do and there is really nothing I can talk about. I trained the whole week and it is all about how much pain you can take,” said Kolisi, who added that he would not be wearing any protection on his face in the game and said with humour that he had “no comment” to Erasmus’s claim that his features might look like those of the battle scarred Kwagga Smith.

'IN A PLACE WE HAVE NEVER BEEN BEFORE'

It is clear that Kolisi’s willingness to put up with pain is an indicator of how big this game is for him, but in typical self-effacing fashion he refused to talk about himself but instead focused on the team goal.

“It is huge not just for me, but the whole team. We are now in a place we have never been before. In the Rugby Championship we have always gone into this phase having lost a game in Australia or in Argentina, somewhere along the way, but now we have a real chance of making sure we will win it.

“Then there is the Freedom Cup. We have only seen the Freedom Cup in photographs or when we have walked past it. We have never held the trophy, we have never won it, you have to win both games to win it otherwise the team that already holds it keeps it. So this is a huge opportunity for us.

“We are playing in Cape Town, where I have great memories, and we are in a great position to win both the Rugby Championship and the Freedom Cup. So I really wanted to play this game and I am grateful to the doctor for giving me the opportunity to do so,” he added.

Kolisi added that the key to the Boks winning the game is to do what they didn’t do last week by asserting themselves from the kick off.

“It is not about us being wary about the All Blacks, it is about putting our front foot forward like we didn’t do last week,” said Kolisi.

“The All Blacks have shown with their selection what they want to do, they want to run with the ball and run us off our feet. We will be going out there to stop them from doing that.”

EXPECTING ANOTHER NAIL-BITER

Assistant coach Mzwandile Stick, who as always shared the Friday media platform with the captain, made it clear that the Boks won’t be underestimating the All Blacks and he said he is expecting Saturday’s game to be a nail-biter similar to the one that was decided in the Bok favour in Johannesburg.

“Most of the games between these two teams go to the last seconds and are decided by very few points, and this one is likely to do that too,” said Stick.

“We know we let ourselves down in 2022 when we didn’t back up from Mbombela to Johannesburg, and we spoke about that experience. It was a reminder that you are never too comfortable against the All Blacks. We know how desperate they will be, as they were when they bounced back from Mbombela two years ago. There is a lesson we can also learn from Argentina, who beat the All Blacks and then were outplayed the following week earlier in the Championship.

“They are a team loaded with world class players, and we know that if we are not at our best they will punish us. We don’t want to give those guys space to make decisions or they will punish us. You can never underestimate the All Blacks.”

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