Springbok skipper Siya Kolisi's miraculous return from injury was completed yesterday when he played the first 40 minutes of the Test against Wales.
The talismanic captain didn’t just come through the opening period of the game unscathed he also delivered a stellar performance as his side carved Wales apart to win 52-16.
Kolisi, who was expected to be sidelined for between six and nine months, returned to action after just four on the sideline. Asked how it felt to be back, he said it was great. he also paid tribute to his team-mates who have helped him through the difficult period.
Speaking to the media after the game he said: “I was very happy to be on the field and my mind was what I needed to do on the field, not anything else.
“There are a lot of things I can definitely improve on, but I’m very happy that I played and I’m also happy for the team.
“It felt amazing, and I didn’t have any fear because our training sessions prepared me a lot.
“I remember doing a contact session and I asked one of the guys to be a bit soft with their hits, but Pieter-Steph du Toit said I must trust my knee and I’ll be fine.
“Those are the kind of things you can’t buy, especially when someone who has been through that kind of injury shares that experience,” he said.
The Boks ran in eight tries to one in what was a record-breaking score in a Test between these two nations. But despite this Kolisi said there was definitely room for improvement.
“We did well as a team, but I thought our discipline could’ve been much better, especially in the first half.
“What we wanted to do was to stay disciplined in the system that we want, and we did that well.
“We’ve got an opportunity to clean things up next week.”
The Springboks play one more warm up game next weekend when they face the All Blacks at Twickenham. Then it is onward to the World Cup, where there opening game is against Scotland.
