Rassie Erasmus’ three-man shortlist to fill Siya Kolisi’s Springboks captaincy void

Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus has three players on his shortlist to captain South Africa against Wales in the one-off Test match at Twickenham Stadium.

Since the June 22 match is outside of World Rugby’s official international window, Erasmus will not have access to players who are playing for Premiership and Top 14 teams.

As a result, South Africa will be without captain Siya Kolisi, who has led the team to two World Cup victories but whose position as captain is also in doubt.

Fly-half for Leicester Tigers Erasmus has other choices because Handre Pollard, the Springboks’ captain against Wales in 2022, is also unable to play in the Test match.

Springboks captaincy is not a headache

The Afrikaans tabloid Rapport said that Erasmus will select between flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit, who is based in Japan, and forwards Eben Etzebeth and Bongi Mbonambi of the Sharks.

The three have all captained the Springboks in the past and may do so once more in the one-off Test match against Wales. Kolisi may also captain the team in the two matches that are played in South Africa against Ireland.

The Sharks are out of the running for the URC play-offs, thus Etzebeth, Mbonambi, and Du Toit will be available for the match, and the players based in Japan will join the team early.

After receiving his honorary doctorate on Thursday at North-West University, Erasmus told the reporters, “The captaincy is not this massive problem.”

We truly have a lot of leaders, and as I mentioned at the last news conference, there is no need to switch captains if a player like Siya is released by his club when it’s appropriate and we have nearly as much access to him as the South African players.

“At this point, Stuart Lancaster, their coach at Racing 92, is collaborating with us rather effectively. Therefore, it doesn’t seem like we need to make a modification there at this time.

“It’s not a headache for us, but let’s see when their season ends and our season ends and players become available.”

Will Kolisi return to South Africa?

The report adds that several top SA Rugby administrators believe that it would be better for the Springboks if Kolisi played in South Africa due to his unifying efforts and his value off the pitch.

However, a top source in SA Rugby told the newspaper that the union “cannot afford” to buy Kolisi out of his contract at Racing 92.