‘I was scared’: Bok captain Siya Kolisi admits fears trying to regain fitness

“I was scared,” Springbok captain Siya Kolisi admits about the injury that nearly ruled him out of this year's Rugby World Cup.

Kolisi, who is yet to play a Test this year, has recovered from a partial anterior cruciate ligament tear and will return as the team's captain against Wales in Cardiff next Saturday.

His reply to a question relating to the injury, though off the cuff, was typically from the heart.

But Kolisi perhaps tugs at heart strings like no other captain. It is that quality that earlier on Tuesday helped draw a rousing response when his name was read out as captain of the squad for a second straight World Cup.

The ecstatic reaction during the squad announcement at MultiChoice City in Randburg was the confluence of hope and relief. Though Kolisi spent time on the sidelines before the previous World Cup, he made the point he carried more angst during his recovery this time round.

“It is two different injuries. I was scared for this one,” he said.

“I had a proper surgeon who gave me confidence.

“It is important to have people around you who are confident. My medical team at the Springboks and the Sharks were all confident I'd be OK. I was blessed with healing. How quickly I healed was big.

“I was really scared. If it wasn't for my wife and my family and my support around me...”

He also called on the counsel of teammates RG Snyman and Handré Pollard who had experience of fighting their way back to fitness from a similar injury.

“Every time I felt something weird, I'd go to them and they'd tell me where they were at the stage I was in. It gave me a lot of confidence. I feel really good. I worked hard.

“It also reminded me how quickly it can get taken away. That was tough because you don't know when it is going to happen. That is why I feel for the guys who are injured.”

The captain was referring to Lukhanyo Am, Pollard and Lood de Jager who were not named in the World Cup squad. Am's omission because of the knee injury he sustained against Argentina on Saturday left many Bok fans deflated.

Am has established himself as one of the game's most influential centres and he will be sorely missed at the World Cup. Kolisi was downcast to lose a colleague like Am.

“We found out yesterday [Monday] after the scans that he was not going to be OK. It was tough,” Kolisi said about the injury coach Jacques Nienaber believes will keep Am out for between two and four weeks.

“I spoke to him after the game and he wasn't positive about it,” said Kolisi.

“You never know what to say in those tough times.”

Kolisi said anything can happen and Am knows what to do to regain fitness.

Nienaber was particularly enthused about Pollard's imminent return to fitness but explained why some players who have had no game time got the nod while others did not.

“If we lose a flyhalf now, Handré will slot straight in,” he said about the player whose injury has caused more angst than was initially anticipated.

Pollard has not played in the green and gold since the clash against Australia in Adelaide last August.

“It is important to note that every guy who got selected will be able to play a Test this Saturday,” said Nienaber.

“We went with World Cup squads before where we carried guys who couldn't train on a Monday and then a Tuesday because they had been nursing niggles.

“That is probably a negative when you have an older, more experienced squad. You lose a bit of agility and availability in training, but you gain wisdom and big match temperament. That is the toss-up.”

Nienaber was referring to the 2015 World Cup when the most experienced Bok team was assembled by Heyneke Meyer. That team lost to Japan and ultimately to New Zealand in the semifinals.

Nienaber was loath to go into detail about De Jager's chest injury, which is shrouded in as much mystery as that of Pierre Spies ahead of the 2007 World Cup.

Despite the late setbacks before the selectors made their final call, the hopes of South Africans are still in the stratosphere. It is something Kolisi hasn't just made peace with, he rises to meet it.

“We know what the country expects and what the country wants. We do love that kind of pressure because we worked hard to get there. We embrace that.

“To win the World Cup four times,  that is the kind of pressure we put on ourselves among each other. It is not pressure at all, it's actually privilege.”