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'I'm sure he'll have a role to play': Siya Kolisi's future in politics

Siya Kolisi during a Springboks Welcome Ceremony to the Union Buildings on November 02, 2023 in Pretoria, South Africa. The ceremony to the Union Buildings for the national team signifies the start of the Rugby World Champions? National Trophy Tour after the Springboks won the 2023 Rugby World Cup against New Zealand at the finals in Paris. (Photo by Gallo Images/Frennie Shivambu)

South Africa fly-half Handre Pollard says he can “easily see” his teammate Siya Kolisi moving into politics when his rugby career comes to an end.

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The flanker’s influence has reached far beyond the rugby pitch ever since he lifted the Webb Ellis Cup in 2019, and he has long been tipped to move into politics after rugby, with a longstanding half-joke that he should run for President.

After leading South Africa to World Cup glory again last year, and now approaching the twilight years of his career at the age of 32, Kolisi is forced to address this issue a lot, and insists he does not want to move into politics. However, his teammate is not sure that will always be the case, and says he has “too good a heart not to get involved in something”.

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As a guest on RugbyPass TV’s The Big Jim Show recently, the Leicester Tigers fly-half discussed the impact that the Springboks winning the World Cup has had on South Africa, but says there is only so much they can do as rugby players.

“We’ve got to be realistic, it’s South Africa and there were probably troubles and bad things going on that day after the final again, but I still think there’s a bit of that nice feeling still going around the country,” the 29-year-old said.

“Hopefully we can ride that wave of positive energy because that’s what we really need at the moment in South Africa.

“We can only do what we do, we are rugby players, we try and bring joy to the country and positivity. By winning World Cups that helps, but there are people in much higher places that have to keep driving this.

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“So, I don’t know if Siya is going to go into politics after rugby. He always says no, but we’ll see about that.

“I can easily see it, I can understand if he doesn’t want to do it. But I think he’s going to play a role some way or another, in some way or form. What that is, we don’t know, we’ll see but he’s got too good a heart not to get involved in something if he knows he can have a positive influence. I’m sure he’ll have a role to play.”

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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