"We decided that we would rather take a fully fit team and the only guy we took a chance on was Siya‚ and we had to manage him so that he could play.”
Erasmus said they had to come up with creative plans to manage Kolisi so that he regained fitness.
“He had one Currie Cup game‚ he also had a game against Argentina and then another friendly against Japan‚" he said.
"It was important to get him fit because he is a great rugby player and secondly he is our captain.
"I thought his form was not great the first two games and that is why he played three matches in a row and we always subbed in the last fifteen to ten minutes of the first two to three games until he was fully fit.
“In the last three games his form was outstanding‚ so much so that we had to sub him because he emptied his tank in the closing stages of the last matches.
"It was important to have him fit and I want to say a massive thank you to the medical team who got him through that process but it was a real worry for me earlier in the year.”.