Springboks captain Siya Kolisi has lauded head coach Rassie Erasmus for his transparency and the freedom he gives his players heading to the Rugby World Cup which gets underway on 20 September in Japan.
The flank forward Kolisi has recently fully recovered from a knee injury.
Despite the initial plan being building for the 2023 Rugby World Cup when Erasmus took over, the 28-year-old Kolisi, together with the rest of the Springboks squad, believes that they have quite a good chance to win the William Web Ellis trophy.
He adds that they are also with those players who missed out on the World Cup squad in spirit.
The Springboks will play against Japan next Friday 06 September, their last warmup match before their first game of the tournament against New Zealand.
Following their last World Cup shock defeat at the hands of Japan, Kolisi says they are taking things one match at a time. – Report by Thando Gqamane
TRANSLATION {“He (Rassie) has reminded us that the most important thing for all of us are the Springboks. There is always a lot of things happening off the field, but he wants to show his work with the team on the field. We want everyone to see that we are working hard to perform well for them every Saturday when we play. We want to inspire a lot of people with the way we play.
He(Rassie) is managing the players well… we are always informed and that makes us stay happy, even when you are not playing. He (Erasmus) is honest, he is fair and has a great vision which every player understands. …”
“We have a lot of faith that we can win the Rugby World Cup.
We have been working hard knowing what the ultimate goal is. The coach would not have take the challenge as well if he didn’t believe that we can win the title.
We are also with those who are not here with us(going to the world cup) because we have been working as a group but we know they are waiting to join the team as well, as soon as anything like an injury occurs…”
“We are taking it day by day. The Japan game is very important as the coach said, we don’t want history to repeat itself and lose to Japan like we did during the previous rugby world cup in England. It’s going to be important for us to do everything in our power to return the favor to Japan…”
