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Cheslin Kolbe's startling revelation about the origin of his mesmerising sidestep

(Photo by Fred Scheiber/AFP via Getty Images)

Toulouse winger Cheslin Kolbe has revealed how he first started to perfect his world-famous sidestep as a kid at home in South Africa – running to the shower or to get something from the fridge.

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A star of the Springboks’ 2019 World Cup triumph, a glory that saw him leave England’s Owen Farrell for dead on his way to the try-line in Yokohama, European rugby fans were reminded of Kolbe’s fast-stepping talents when he helped Toulouse defeat Ulster last weekend.

Jacob Stockdale, the scorer of Ireland’s crucial try in their breakthrough 2018 win over the All Blacks in Dublin, was left looking foolish as Kolbe sidestepped him on route to the quarter-final try-line in France.

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Schalk Brits on South Africa’s 2019 World Cup glory

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    Schalk Brits on South Africa’s 2019 World Cup glory

    Ahead of this Saturday’s semi-final at Exeter, Kolbe has now told an EPCR media conference that this particular skill originated at the family home.

    “When I was a kid growing up at home, whenever I went to take a shower or to get something from the fridge in the kitchen I always used to run and make sure I sidestepped something,” explained the 26-year-old.

    “I also developed it playing touch rugby in the streets with my friends, trying all kinds of things to give the person trying to stop me a bit of a headache. I can step off both feet. A lot of players are mostly dominant off one foot, but I put as much emphasis on both feet. To be honest, sometimes I don’t know what I do on the field. It’s just my body taking over. I surprise myself.”

    Kolbe will likely go head-to-head at Sandy Park against Jack Nowell, a winger he knows well from a South Africa versus England encounter at the Junior World Cup seven years ago.

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    “Jack is a special player,” Kolbe said. “I played against him in the U20 World Cup in 2013 and he really caught my eye. The turn of speed he has, the power and the sidestepping as well. He is really a great player, a player that has a lot to provide to a team.

    “We probably play the same style of rugby, and I am looking forward to the weekend and catching up with him again. We speak every now and then on social media. He has a family, I also have a family, that’s how we got started. We just try and keep up that relationship.”

    Toulouse are chasing a record fifth European Cup and while they haven’t lifted the trophy since 2010, Kolbe doesn’t feel any pressure heading into this weekend’s semi-final in Devon. “The thing that drives me is my family, my daughter and the amazing support that I have behind me – and the people back home in South Africa and the community I grew up in.

    “I play this game to hopefully inspire those people in my (South African) community to not fall into the trap of gangsters and drugs. Each and every morning I wake up I think about why I do this and why I want to keep succeeding in life and wanting the best for me as a player.”

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    J
    JW 1 hour ago
    Northern sides would toil in Super Rugby? The numbers say different

    but Game Duration was over 112 minutes!

    No it wasn’t, I checked that and a few other 6N games. IrevSctoland was around that number. Oh, unless you include the 15min half time, year that’d be the right number.


    France still played, and were advantaged by, a very high tempo that game.

    FYI Opta doesn’t do work-rest because they believe ball-in-play is far more accurate and inclusive.

    It’s in their WRC media info sheets, but if you mean they no longer bother including it, I’d have to agree given it’s absence. Like I said, it was a bit of an eyesore and BIP just ‘looked’ much nicer.


    None of these if used as arguments for and against has any relevance to the worth of using ‘game duration’ (which I assume is what W2R was devided by the number of “plays"?), it’s pure science that expending energy over a shorter period is going to have you more fatigued. You can’t dispute that. If you were to argue that BIP correlates to the exact same data/stats/findings/concepts that I’m talking about, then that would be very interesting and I’d have to go back over the data to verify that.


    You should also note that the new injury protocol will worsen the ball in play stat, as they keep the clock ticking while theres no action, where in the past the ref would have immediately blown his whistle to stop the clock, then walk over to the injured play to see whats up. The clock would only have started again once teams are ready to restart, so each time they would have saved 10 or 20 secs of milling around and that goes back in to BIP time (roughly half right).

    62 Go to comments
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