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British & Irish LionsSouth AfricaSiya Kolisi

South Africa still sweating over captain Kolisi's availability

By PA
Siya Kolisi (Photo by Anthony Au-Yeung/Getty Images)

Siya Kolisi must pass a medical assessment before he is able to lead South Africa into Saturday’s first Test against the British and Irish Lions.

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Kolisi was one of 14 Springboks to test positive for coronavirus, forcing him to self-isolate in Johannesburg for 10 days, and only on Monday has he been able to join up with the world champions’ squad in Cape Town.

South Africa’s 2019 World Cup-winning captain, along with wing Makazole Mapimpi, faces lung and heart tests to assess his fitness and, if cleared by a specialist, he will resume training on Tuesday.

“They will go for the final test today (Monday). Anything can happen in terms of results. Some positive news would be good,” assistant coach Mzwandile Stick said.

“We trust the protocols in place and won’t do anything stupid. We’ve got great players in our squad so if Siya is not fit, we trust the other guys to play in that position.

“A guy like Rynhardt Elstadt, currently he is winning everything in front of him. Marco Van Staden we saw against the Bulls on Saturday. Jasper Wiese…any of those guys can be selected and we’d trust them to do a job for us.”

Fly-half Handre Pollard, another of the Springboks who tested positive, has revealed he faced only minor disruption after being infected during the outbreak that forced the cancellation of the second Test against Georgia.

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“I didn’t have any symptoms, so I got back to training pretty quickly. Physically I’m OK. It was very strict once we went into the Covid wing of the hotel,” Pollard said.

“The first five, six days were spent in the room, giving your body time to fight whatever it’s got to fight. Then we were provided with the necessary gym equipment in our rooms.

“There is no way we are not going to be ready, playing against the British and Irish Lions, playing for your country.

“Emotionally, physically we are all fine. We’ve had hard weeks of training. The way we train is harder than the game, so we’ll be ready for whatever comes our way on Saturday.”

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Duhan van der Merwe's Lions tour thrown into doubt

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JD 1 hour ago
'Caelan Doris... I’m not sure he gets in the Lions back row at the moment'

Doris didn’t play that well though, while other number 8’s really shone. Hell Conan made more impact during his minutes than Doris. It doesn’t matter how well Ireland did. Example - Sale lost to Toulouse last weekend, but Ben Curry was phenomenal despite losing.


Don’t judge a player on 5 games is my opinion, class is permanent. Doris does need some good games between now and the end of the season though.

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Duhan van der Merwe's Lions tour thrown into doubt

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JD 1 hour ago
Despite the Croke Park horror show, Marcus Smith shouldn't be discounted from Lions conversation

Taking 2 fly halfs and 2 fullbacks plus Marcus Smith leaves an extra tour spot. Quids in it will be Elliott Daly given his versatility. Personally I’m not a huge fan of his, but for a tour like this he will be ideal given the sheer number of matches. A further centre cum flyhalf (Jordan) isn’t needed as Kinghorn can play 10 as well. Part of me really wants Manu on that plane.

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JD 1 hour ago
'Caelan Doris... I’m not sure he gets in the Lions back row at the moment'

Farrell comes left field and names Jac Morgan as tour captain…


One problem for Doris currently is the form of Jack Conan. Conan is basically playing anywhere just to get on the pitch and is starting tonight at 8 vs Glasgow.


It’s an interesting thing to consider. Neither Doris nor Itoje are hugely experienced captains, but the argument could be made that Maro has more experience at the top given his amount of international caps and previous Lions involvement.


Both will be leaders in the pack regardless. Whoever is captain has to be a nailed on starter though. It’s not that outlandish to namecheck the current England captain as a potential tour captain really given Farrell only has a few options in front of him.

11 Go to comments
J
JD 1 hour ago
'Caelan Doris... I’m not sure he gets in the Lions back row at the moment'

He’ll be starting second row anyway so surely it’s irrelevant to Oz whether he’s captain or not then?

11 Go to comments
N
NB 2 hours ago
Why French rugby would be poorer if Ronan O'Gara leaves La Rochelle

Every league bar hte Top 14 is posting huge numbers of points 👍

50 Go to comments
N
NB 2 hours ago
Why French rugby would be poorer if Ronan O'Gara leaves La Rochelle

He ruled it out previously.

50 Go to comments
N
NB 2 hours ago
Why French rugby would be poorer if Ronan O'Gara leaves La Rochelle

For sure, but it’s not a reason to trade away a series win in NZ - at least not unless you’re inhabiting an alternate universe!


NZ prob learned more because Schmidt came in, and he was far more familiar with developments in Ireland than any of the local coaches.

50 Go to comments
N
NB 2 hours ago
Why French rugby would be poorer if Ronan O'Gara leaves La Rochelle

They are not opposed points of view FL.


England up to Ireland 2024 tended to kick back rather than return. Their KR improvement coincided with both trhe intro of Furbank at 15, and Felix Jones running a more aggressive form of D.


France are good kick returners, but most of the work on that is done by the coaches at Toulouse and UBB, who have adopted a similar style.

50 Go to comments
I
IkeaBoy 2 hours ago
'Caelan Doris... I’m not sure he gets in the Lions back row at the moment'

Its the Oz media. They want him as captain with his penalty count and discipline woes. He’d help them no end.

11 Go to comments
D
DP 2 hours ago
'Caelan Doris... I’m not sure he gets in the Lions back row at the moment'

Tinsel has zero rugby IQ but a lot of influential rugby mates. The bloke spouts so much nonsense it’s hilarious to hear, he speaks with such conviction… blinkered and rose tinted conviction, much like most of the English players from his era.

11 Go to comments
f
fl 2 hours ago
Why French rugby would be poorer if Ronan O'Gara leaves La Rochelle

could O’Gara take the top job at Wales now though?

50 Go to comments
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Tulijuanacutler 2 hours ago
Geoff Parling: An Englishman roasting the Lions?

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44 Go to comments
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fl 2 hours ago
Why French rugby would be poorer if Ronan O'Gara leaves La Rochelle

I agree - but I do also think NZ learned from that defeat and that was one of the main reasons they won in the QF.

50 Go to comments
f
fl 2 hours ago
Why French rugby would be poorer if Ronan O'Gara leaves La Rochelle

“Both tend to be generated by agressive D, which either wins the ball directly, or forces a kick on the D’s terms.”

this is partly true, but its also down to the kicks themselves.


“England post-2023 have been pretty good on KR’s esp when they started to pick either Marcus or Furbank at FB.”

completely true, but not at all the point I was making. England in 2023 were brilliant at generating turnovers, but they were not brilliant at converting them into chances - so very clearly scoring loads of tries off turnovers isn’t purely (or perhaps even primarily) a product of aggressive defence. The point about Furbank and Smith actually kinda proves my point - neither player contributes much to England’s defensive linespeed, and yet they do contribute to tries being scored off turnover!

50 Go to comments
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