Cape Town Test still possible as Boks give Kolisi time to recover

THE SPRINGBOKS will give captain Siya Kolisi enough time this week to possibly recover from his cheekbone injury and be available for Saturday’s second Test against the All Blacks.

Kolisi took a massive knock to the face in a tackle from New Zealand flanker Sam Cane and sported a big bruise after the Ellis Park Test which the Boks won 31-27 on Saturday.

It was a third win in a row for the world champions against the Kiwis, including the one-point win in last year’s World Cup final. This was also the Boks’ third straight victory in the Rugby Championship. Another win over the All Blacks this weekend at the Cape Town Stadium will put the side on the cusp of a first full Championship title since 2009. They won a truncated version in 2019.

Daan Human, Springbok scrum coach, said on Monday that Kolisi has gone for scans and they were waiting for the verdict to decide on his availability. Another indication that the Boks are waiting for their leader is the postponement of their normal Tuesday team announcement to later in the week.

Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus will name the side on Thursday for the second Test in the Mother City.

“They are still busy assessing Siya to see if he is available for us. We will see how he goes through the week,” Human said.

“But he is important for us, so if he is not available, it’s (the) next man in. He took a proper knock. But I can’t go into what the refs and the TMO, what they saw. We’ve seen what we’ve seen. But hopefully he can recover soon, get better and be fit to play the game.”

Human said there are some niggles in the side, something that was expected after the bruising battle with the All Blacks, but they are gearing up for another spectacle in the Mother City. They know the All Blacks also lost against Argentina in their first Test and came back with a resounding win in the second a week later.

He kept his Bok cards close to his chest, though, but hinted there might be some changes to the matchday 23 for the clash.

“We did the review and there’s a lot of stuff we can work on this week and get better at. But we also realise that they (New Zealand) are a quality side and it’s going to be tough to get results in all the departments,” said Human.

“They had a massive comeback after the first loss against Argentina. But you can always expect that from them. Like how they did two years ago (after losing in Mbombela against the Boks and winning the next weekend in Johannesburg), we can expect the same this weekend. They will probably try to do the same.

“But we are concentrating on ourselves and where we can get better. We can never forget that. Yes, we must consider it (that the opposition will mount a comeback) and we have to factor them in, it is important and we have a lot of respect for them.

“At this point, though, we can only do what we can do. We can’t control their performance.”