There’s a reason NFL teams rarely, if ever, field their regular starters during the pre-season. The risk of injury in a largely meaningless match is too great. Rugby union might want to copy from this playbook after a glut of star names, including France’s fly-half Romain Ntamack and England’s in-form scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet have pulled out of the World Cup after suffering cruel blows just weeks before the tournament starts.
Which is why the presence of Siya Kolisi at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday will be a welcome sight to all rugby fans. The Springboks captain last played a competitive game 119 days ago when he was carried off the park in Durban when the Sharks hosted Munster in the United Rugby Championship. Scans showed that he had torn the ligaments in his right knee. There were fears he would be an absent spectator when his team defended the Webb Ellis Cup.
“I had a lot of doubts when the injury happened,” Kolisi said on Friday. “My wife [Rachel] just prayed and believed I could get here.”
Kolisi emphasised the importance his faith played in his recovery. He also name-checked every specialist both within and outside the Springboks camp as well as the other players who have overcome similar injuries, including Pieter-Steph du Toit and Handré Pollard.
“All I can do is go and give it all that I can for as long as I can,” he added. “That is the only way I can say thank you for the backing and the hard work that everyone has put in for me.”
Kolisi will reprise his usual role in the Springboks back row among a pack that boasts 395 Test caps. Wales’s pack has a combined 196 caps with 70 belonging to the flanker Dan Lydiate. There are two props playing only their second Test. Two key forwards, including the captain, Jac Morgan, have 10 Welsh appearances to their name.
As with most contests between these two pragmatic, and often brutal, sides, dominance up front will be key. Wales’s set-piece has struggled since Warren Gatland’s return in December 2022. According to the statistician Russ Petty, Wales have recorded a 100% record from their own scrum feed just once in their last seven matches. Though the Springboks have expanded their attacking game thanks to the maverick Manie Libbok at 10, they will lean into their traditional strengths and target this potential soft point.
But Gatland has bigger concerns in the backline. He had to make three changes to his original plan as Dan Biggar (back spasm), Liam Williams (tight hamstring) and Alex Cuthbert (tight calf) have been hooked from the squad as a precaution. Debutant Cai Evans slots in at full-back while Sam Costelow will win his fourth cap at fly-half.
Gatland downplayed the seriousness of the injuries and suggested that Biggar at least would have featured if “this was a World Cup semi-final.”
Four years ago, the Springboks edged a gruelling semi-final in Yokohama that was separated by a single Pollard penalty. Most games between the two teams are close affairs that quickly turn into arm wrestles. Before South Africa’s 30-14 win the last time they met – in Cape Town last year – six of the previous seven Tests were settled by less than a converted try.
“They’re like us,” Kolisi said, comparing the peoples of Wales and South Africa. “They’re similar to us. They’re hard working people who don’t get everything [handed to them]. We have huge respect for them.” Hopefully that respect translates into a clean game with no additions to the World Cup casualty list.
