It’s not us against the world – Springbok captain Siya Kolisi

Springbok captain Siya Kolisi was at pains to explain that he does not believe it is the Springboks against the world, ahead of their crucial final end-of-year-tour match against England at Twickenham on Saturday evening (kick-off 7:30pm).

This was despite all the recent bad publicity levelled at the side, largely due to the Twitter antics of SA Rugby Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus.

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Asked during the Boks pre-match press conference on Friday if it felt like they were up against the whole world, and whether he agreed with what Erasmus had been doing, Kolisi was very diplomatic in his reply while defending Erasmus as well.

“We don’t think the world is against us, no. We’re not the only team that is facing challenges and sometimes it’s a different challenge that each team has,” explained Kolisi.

“Our slogan is still the main thing and that is rugby, everything else that happens in between is the exception. For us, the team is a more important thing, the Springboks.

“People from our country expect us to deliver, no matter what we face. We can’t be making any excuses.”

Speaking in defence of Erasmus Kolisi said: “I actually don’t want to talk about it, because it’s a very sensitive thing. Anything I say could be written their own way, but we’re learning as we going.”

“I know both parties are happy and spoken about going forward, and yeah, I just hope that it’s resolved going forward.”

Smoke the peace pipe

Kolisi was also hopeful that after all of the animosity, World Rugby and SA Rugby would be able to sit down and smoke the peace pipe, as a good relationship between the two bodies was integral going forward, as the incident had not been good for the game.

“We’re all a part of the rugby family and sometimes families don’t see eye to eye at times. But the most important thing is that we are all invested in rugby and hopefully, we can learn from these things and move forward together, much stronger than it was before,” said Kolisi.

“You can always use difficult periods and adversity. It’s all good because it’s all about how you see it. Hopefully, something great comes out of it and it’s a better solution and going forward between us and World Rugby.

“I hope from the bottom of my heart, something more positive comes out of it because it’s not good for rugby in general.”