IN QUOTES | 'I will make tough calls if needed' - Siya Kolisi on the Rugby World Cup

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus and team captain Siya Kolisi addressed journalists on Thursday for the last time before flying off to Japan for the 2019 Rugby World Cup. 

Here is Kolisi's address in six telling quotes:

Japan strategy

"We will definitely build on what we have worked on. A world cup is a different tournament, every single team pitches up - we've learnt that, so we have to make sure we pitch up every single time. Regarding our system and everything else, we're building on it, we're not gonna start afresh. Coach might add new things every now and then but everything else we'll be building on."

Knee injury, playing Argentina

"I feel really good, I was worried about the time. I was under a lot of pressure from watching other guys play but the great thing is that I was quite involved. It was just a waiting period to see how the knee held up - and it held up very well. I was not the best but I was happy with the way I played with Argentina."

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Time to reflect

"We've been quite busy this week, working really hard and obviously with all that's happening I've just been trying to focus on the rugby, which is the main thing for us. I think I'll have a moment in the plane tomorrow when I can take it in. I like focusing on the game and making sure that it speaks louder than anything else."

Leadership style

"I have no ego whatsoever, and when someone is better at a place than me, I allow them to do that. Same as the coach, whenever we work on stuff where coach has a plan and a player comes up with something, we say 'OK cool, let's change it'. We have that kind of spirit and culture in the team."

Defining moment for Kolisi

"If it comes to tight calls, obviously I'm gonna have to make those calls and I know for a fact that coach would back me. If I need advice, I'll speak to the group but at the end of the day I'll have to make those calls and I'm not scared of that."

Learning from the past 

"Our pack has done well, scrum-wise, but playing in Japan for the first time we know they want to keep it unstructured and we're very good in structure. So, we mustn't get carried away as I think that's how we lost the last time. I was part of that team and I felt like we bought into what they wanted to us do, we didn't do our normal mauling. We're gonna have to stick to our systems."