Siya Kolisi marked his 100th test cap with trademark humility and leadership, putting the team first as World Champions South Africa (SA) came from behind to humble France 32-17 in an intense Autumn international on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Kolisi, who rose from humble beginnings in Zwide township to become SA\u2019s first Black captain and a two-time World Cup winner, was taken off as part of a tactical plan that helped the Springboks manage the game after lock Lood de Jager\u2019s red card left them a man short for the second half.<\/p>\n
His calm authority during a game of fluctuating emotions encapsulated the qualities that have made him a unifying figure far beyond sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou saw the way they started, making breaks, coming at us but we didn\u2019t panic,\u201d Kolisi told reporters.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe coolness remained. We put the team first, and that\u2019s what we did today. It\u2019s not easy, you have to put emotions aside. We always make decisions for the team. Then it\u2019s all good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coach Rassie Erasmus, who appointed Kolisi captain in 2018, praised the skipper\u2019s influence.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to make plans in attack and defence, break the line, and stay calm when it matters most,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people say they\u2019re getting older, but they\u2019re wiser and calmer under pressure. Siya controls the climate, the vibe of the team very well, he can create an environment for the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Erasmus said SA\u2019s experience was key in an intimidating atmosphere.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlaying here, the French can be so proud of their supporters, it was intimidating but we\u2019ve been through this in 2023 (when SA beat France in the World Cup quarterfinals) and the experience of the players made the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kolisi watched the closing stages from the touchline as South Africa\u2019s forwards asserted control and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu sealed an impressive win with a late try.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–Reuters–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14701,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-14871","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Coach Rassie Erasmus appointed Kolisi captain in 2018, praised the skipper\u2019s influence.","published_date":null,"news_description":"Coach Rassie Erasmus appointed Kolisi captain in 2018, praised the skipper\u2019s influence.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/14871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/14871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19345,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/14871\/revisions\/19345"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=14871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}