Rassie Erasmus has explained that Siya Kolisi will be among the coaches when the Springboks look to wrap up the Rugby Championship title against Argentina on Saturday. DYLAN JACK reports.
Kolisi was left out of the matchday-23 to tackle Los Pumas in Santiago del Estero, despite making the trip to Argentina with the 28-man squad.
Instead, Salmaan Moerat will lead the Springboks out after fully recovering from the concussion that he suffered in the tour of Australia at the beginning of the tournament.
TEAM: Moerat leads Boks in Argentina mission
Erasmus explained that the plan was always to have Kolisi as a supporting member of the squad, while revealing that the Bok captain will be sitting with the coaches on Saturday.
Erasmus set the precedent for this with Duane Vermeulen during the 2023 World Cup when the former Bok No 8 sat with the coaching staff in the pool stage match against Ireland.
“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.
“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.”
Erasmus added that Kolisi will be available for selection for the return match against Argentina at the Mbombela Stadium next week, after which he will attend to his broken nose.
“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.”
Photo: @Springboks/Twitter
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Src: sarugbymag.co.za
