Siya Kolisi continues to impress with his recovery

During the latter parts of the URC season with the Sharks, Siya Kolisi suffered a serious knee injury that led to initial fears that his World Cup could be in jeopardy.

However, ever since then, Kolisi has got stuck into an extensive rehabilitation programme that has remarkably put him on track to recover in time for a warm-up game or two ahead of the global showpiece.

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Although the skipper is not expected to feature at all in the Rugby Championship, it was confirmed on Tuesday that his recovery timeline is still looking positive.

“He is running today,” Jacques Nienaber said during the Springboks’ team announcement. “He is doing very well. He is a hard worker and a professional, just like Eben (Etzebeth). Eben, at the beginning, this game was touch and go. In terms of the prediction – sometimes you might miss it within a week or two – but they were very diligent and worked incredibly hard.

“Siya is doing the same thing. So, we feel he is on track … definitely on track.”

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ETZEBETH WILL LEAD THE SPRINGBOKS AGAINST THE ALL BLACKS IN THE ABSENCE OF KOLISI

Springboks – 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Franco Mostert, 6 Kwagga Smith, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth (c), 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Steven Kitshoff.

Subs: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Thomas du Toit, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 21 Duane Vermeulen, 22 Grant Williams, 23 Manie Libbok.

YOU CAN SEE THE TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT PRESS CONFERENCE BELOW:

Springbok record against New Zealand

Played 103; Won 38; Lost 61; Drawn 4; Points for: 1 674, Points against: 2 143; Tries scored 160, Tries conceded 234; Highest score 46-40; Biggest win 17 points. Win %: 37%.

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Milestones:

• Eben Etzebeth will captain the Springboks for the 13^th time on Saturday. His last Test as captain was on 20 July 2019 against Australia at Emirates Airline Park in Johannesburg.
• Saturday’s clash will mark the 28^th time Damian de Allende and Lukhanyo Am join forces in the Springbok midfield.
• The last time the Springboks suffered a defeat in New Zealand was in 2017. They beat the All Blacks 36-34 in 2018, while the sides played to a 16-16 draw in 2019.

Miscellaneous:

• The total Test caps for the Springbok starting line-up is 797.
• There are 320 caps in the backline, with 477 caps among the forwards. On the bench there are a further 280 caps.
• The average caps per player in the backline is 45, the forwards 59, while the players on the bench average 35.

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