Kolisi cleared to face the All Blacks in Cape Town

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus announced on Tuesday that Siya Kolisi has recovered from the hamstring injury he suffered against Argentina three weeks ago and will start against the All Blacks in Cape Town on Saturday.

Erasmus also confirmed that the experienced Springbok flanker will lead the Boks out at DHL Stadium in the second Test of the Castle Double Malt Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series.

Kolisi will form a loose trio with Pieter-Steph du Toit, who was initially named as captain in the Test in which he will earn his 100th Test cap on Saturday and No 8 Jasper Wiese. It also means that Paul de Villiers drops out of the matchday squad.

The Bok coach said handing the captaincy back to Kolisi was also partly attributed to reducing the pressure on Du Toit in terms of leading the team while he marks this remarkable career milestone.

“Siya will be starting and he will captain the team,” Erasmus told the media on Tuesday.

“It was a hamstring niggle, not something major like he had before 2019 or 2023. It was a grade two tear and it takes a little time to recover and that's why we've been cautious.

“Last week it was touch and go but we told him he had to run full out on Monday and he did so on Tuesday as well without any discomfort, so he's good to go.”

Of the decision to hand over the captaincy to Kolisi, Erasmus said: “Pieter-Steph just took the captaincy for us on Monday so Siya could fully concentrate on his recovery and his work and I had a chat with Pieter-Steph today and he agreed.

“In this match you probably don't want captaincy responsibilities, with the 100 to think about and on top of that needing to play well, so Siya is our captain.

“The 23 guys who played together against Argentina played really well and it’s not just his game that is good, he's a very inspirational person who means a lot to this team on and off the field.”

Having had time to reflect on last week’s result in Johannesburg and regroup on and off the field, Erasmus said: “When we reviewed the game on Monday, we felt we were very dominant throughout up until about the 60-minute mark and we were just a bit inaccurate in a few departments.

“That's what this week is for. Luckily in this competition we've still got three chances to keep going and get our game better.

“A lot of the things we asked the players to do, they did. The plan didn't win the game for us but it's definitely also not the players who lost the game.

“I'm taking responsibility for some of the decisions we made. We're a group but I think it's a relevant point to explain why we lost and some of it falls more on me than on the players to be honest.”

Erasmus said although the Boks were still hurting from the defeat they have turned their focus to this weekend’s match and that as always, the key was to make the country proud.

“I'm definitely nervous again,” he said. “We're one game down, and if we don't win this game, we can't win the series, we can only draw it. Nerves are there for sure. But we’ve been under this kind of pressure a lot, and hopefully we can turn things around this weekend.”

The match kicks off at 5.10pm and will be broadcast live on SuperSport.

Springbok starting XV: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Ethan Hooker; 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Cobus Reinach; 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (capt); 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Eben Etzebeth; 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche. Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Andre Esterhuizen, 21 Cameron Hanekom, 22 Morne van den Berg, 23 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

South Africa v New Zealand - Saturday @ DHL Stadium, Cape Town (5.10pm)

Referee: Nika Amashukeli (GRU)

Assistant Referees: Karl Dickson (RFU), Angus Gardner (RA)

Television Match Official: Eric Gauzins (FFR)

Split Screen/FPRO: Brett Cronan (RA)