Siya Kolisi 'grateful' to be back leading South Africa

South Africa captain Siya Kolisi expressed grateful for the support he received as he made a successful comeback from a knee injury.

Having sidelined by a serious knee injury, Kolisi was initially expected to be doubtful for the upcoming Rugby World Cup campaign. Nevertheless, he showed great determination as he led the team in the warm-up game against Wales last weekend in Cardiff where he featured for 40 minutes boosting the hopes of their title defence.

“Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for all the support and prayers through my rehab, I am really grateful. Always an honour to go out in this jersey," said Kolisi.

“It felt amazing. Our training sessions prepared me a lot. I remember I asked the guys to come at me a little bit softer, but Pieter-Steph [du Toit] came to me and said, ‘Trust me, you’re fine’. Those kinds of things you can’t buy, having a guy who has come through things like that."

Despite their 36-point victory over Wales, Kolisi like head coach Jacques Nienaber urged the team to show better discipline if they are to go the distance in the upcoming World Cup campaign.

“As a team we did well. I thought our discipline could be a lot better, especially in the first half, but we wanted to stay disciplined in the system and I think we did that well," said the 2019 World Cup winning captain.

"But next week is a different challenge and we’re going to have to get up again".