Kolisi ‘feeling good’ for first Lions Test

THERE was a danger that Siya Kolisi could miss tonight’s first Test between the Springboks and British and Irish Lions, but the captain himself is not perturbed by his lack of training time for the match.

In fact, the Bok No 6 believes the magnitude of the three-Test series against the tourists that only comes around every 12 years for a South African is enough motivation to get the world champions firing at full tilt at the Cape Town Stadium encounter (6pm kick-off).

The 30-year-old Sharks loose forward had been in Covid-19 isolation for the last few weeks, but returned to the Bok squad in Cape Town on Monday.

He had to be cleared by a specialist on the same day, along with wing Makazole Mapimpi, and they were able to train from Tuesday.

Kolisi said he was fortunate in that he did not have any major Covid-19 symptoms, and it was a matter of getting over the mental hurdle of being in isolation.

But he was able to keep track of the team’s progress via online meetings, and he says he was “feeling good” and ready to contribute to the Bok cause this evening.

“We are in the same mindset as the guys in 2007. I was speaking to John Smit last night, and he was saying how excited he was, even though he is not playing. For us as players, we’ve had our challenges – guys have had long injuries and had to work hard to come back here. That’s all we’ve been speaking about,” Kolisi said yesterday.

“Some of us will never get this opportunity again, and it’s rare. Guys like Frans (Steyn) and Morné (Steyn) are involved for a second time.

“We are giving it all we can, and the guys who are not playing are giving their input, as they want us to be successful. We want to win this thing.

“That’s the mindset for us – we will do everything we can to make sure we get the result that we want.”

And the openside flank is not concerned about running out of steam either. “I do feel good, but if it gets to a place I am tired – and they know the signs – they will take me off the field. If you’ve given everything you can and you can’t anymore, our coaches are very good at making the right subs at the right time,” Kolisi said.

Lions coach Warren Gatland has been trying to bait the Boks into a slanging match off the field, in the last week. First he complained about the yellow card to Faf de Klerk in the SA A match, and then he had a dig at Rassie Erasmus about being a waterboy.

The former Wales boss added that he thought the Lions “dented the ego” of the Boks as they got the upper hand on the SA A pack in the second half last week.

Bok assistant coach Mzwandile Stick, though, said yesterday that the South Africans will do their talking on the field.

“We were happy as a Springbok team if you look at the most important stat – which is the final score.

“We won the game, so I am not sure what it is that they dented against us,” the former Blitzboks captain said.

“I am not going to fall into that trap of playing mind games.

The game is played between the four lines, so if Gatland is talking about the egos, he doesn’t know much about us as South Africans. We will see tomorrow after the game – hopefully we can give people a good show.

“We know they are going to be tough, we know they are going to be physical. So, once again, when it comes to the ego, we will see where the egos are between the four lines.”

It’s all set up for an intriguing battle at the Cape Town Stadium. Both teams will be flying out of the blocks, but it could come down to which side makes the fewest mistakes that will emerge victorious.

TEAMS

SPRINGBOKS: 15 Willie le Roux 14 Cheslin Kolbe 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Damian de Allende 11 Makazole Mapimpi 10 Handre Pollard 9 Faf de Klerk 8 Kwagga Smith 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit 6 Siya Kolisi (captain) 5 Franco Mostert 4 Eben Etzebeth 3 Trevor Nyakane 2 Bongi Mbonambi 1 Ox Nche.

Bench: 16 Malcolm Marx 17 Steven Kitshoff 18 Frans Malherbe 19 Lood de Jager 20 Rynhardt Elstadt 21 Herschel Jantjies 22 Elton Jantjies 23 Damian Willemse.

LIONS: 15 Stuart Hogg 14 Anthony Watson 13 Elliot Daly 12 Robbie Henshaw 11 Duhan van der Merwe 10 Dan Biggar 9 Ali Price 8 Jack Conan 7 Tom Curry 6 Courtney Lawes 5 Alun Wyn Jones (captain) 4 Maro Itoje 3 Tadhg Furlong 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie 1 Wyn Jones.

Bench: 16 Ken Owens 17 Rory Sutherland 18 Kyle Sinckler 19 Tadhg Beirne 20 Hamish Watson 21 Conor Murray 22 Owen Farrell 23 Liam Williams.