SPRINGBOK coach Rassie Erasmus has given a glimpse into the role he foresees for ageing captain Siya Kolisi by including him in the coaches’ box for Saturday’s Rugby Championship match against Argentina in Santiago del Estero (11pm SA time kick-off).
Kolisi has a broken nose, courtesy of a high challenge by All Blacks counterpart Sam Cane at Ellis Park, and has travelled to Argentina in a non-player role.
It seems that Erasmus wants Kolisi to follow in the footsteps of Duane Vermeulen, who slowly transitioned from a playing No 8 to an assistant coach.
At 33, Kolisi is 50/50 to be a starter at the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.
But his incredible presence must be treasured and not discarded, and we might see him being carefully managed over the next few seasons as Erasmus weighs up whether Kolisi can make it to Australia.
As a player at RWC 2023 in France, the experienced and respected Vermeulen was spotted in the coaches’ box when not on player duty, and his input on how players view the game was valued by Erasmus.
Vermeulen, who retired after the last World Cup, is now head of a coaching ‘Mobi-Unit’ that road trips around South Africa.
Erasmus says he wants Kolisi to learn about how things happen in the coaches’ box, and why the staff make the calls they do.
“We want to get Siya into the coaches’ box,” Erasmus said.
“We’ve got Duane on the side who can relay the messages to Siya and the decision-makers on the field.
“He doesn’t know what is happening in the coaches’ box, so I want to give him a feel of how we get to decisions, and how we send messages down so that he understands the process.
“The moment when Duane took up that process, he had a better understanding of how to interpret the information.
“We hope to get the same with Siya this weekend.”
Kolisi’s broken nose allows Erasmus to introduce him to a wider role in the team.
“Siya wasn’t brought to Argentina to play, but he was on standby in the event someone gets injured,” Erasmus said.
“He’s here to help lead the team off the field while we’re also preparing for this important game.
“It was always the plan that he wasn’t going to play, and that he would hopefully return for the match (against the Pumas) next week in Mbombela.”
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When Kolisi first sustained the injury, Erasmus said he suspected his captain had a fractured cheekbone, but this was not the case and Kolisi toughed it out and played in the Cape Town Test against New Zealand.
But the team in Argentina will be captained by lock Salmaan Moerat, who makes a welcome return after his unfortunate concussion just half an hour into the game against Australia in Perth.
He captained the team that day, but when he failed concussion protocols, he had to be replaced by Eben Etzebeth.
Erasmus said Kolisi has a type of injury that does not require immediate surgery.
“His nose only really has to be reset after two weeks,” Erasmus said.
“He can still play in Mbombela next week and have his nose reset (afterwards) because the procedure can't be done before two weeks.
“There’s a four- to six-week period in which it can be fixed, so it can be done in that time frame after Mbombela.”