Springbok captain Siya Kolisi was always going to travel to Argentina with the national side, and never was in the plans to play unless there was an injury.
Coach Rassie Erasmus explained Kolisi’s absence from the match day 23 and said the team had a more nuanced reason on why Kolisi would be on the tour but nowhere near the match day squad.
Erasmus confirmed that Kolisi’s role would be different in this test match.
“Siya wasn’t brought here to play, but to be on standby if anybody gets injured,” Erasmus said. “He’s also here to help lead the team off the field, while preparing for this important game. It was always the plan that he wasn’t going to play.”
Erasmus added that the Boks wanted to get Kolisi a taste of the coaches box, as they had done with Duane Vermeulen, so that when he is on the field he can understand better how decisions are taken from the stands, and interpret them better while leading the team.
“The one thing we also want to do is get Siya in the coaches box. We usually have Duane on the sideline who relays messages to Siya and the decision-makers on the field, but Siya doesn’t know what happens in the coaches box.
“So we really want him to see how we reach a decision and send messages down, so he can understand the whole process. We did the same thing with Duane and he said after that he had a new understanding, which we hope to get from Siya as well this weekend.”
Kolisi played through the Cape Town test with a broken nose, and is likely to continue that next week against Argentina in Mbombela, before he sees a doctor to reset the damage done in the collision with Sam Cane in Johannesburg.
“He can still play next week at Mbombela and then get his nose reset,” Erasmus said. “It can be done no longer than between four and six weeks, so he’s in that time frame. He will get it sorted after the test at Mbombela.”
Salmaan Moerat will lead the Boks into battle on Saturday in Santiago del Estal, knowing that the Boks can clinch this year’s Castle Lager Rugby Championship if they win the match.