Kolisi ‘really grateful’ for leading Boks to record win against Wales

Captain Siya Kolisi is “really grateful” for leading the Springboks to a record win against Wales in Cardiff after his return.

Kolisi made a successful return on Saturday, playing 40 minutes and providing the scoring pass for the first try by Malcolm Marx.

The Springboks recorded a 52-16 victory and focused on improving as the Rugby World Cup kick off moved a day closer.

“Thank you, Jesus” said Kolisi.

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

Kolisi said he did not have any fear going into the game.

“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.

“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. But next week is a different challenge and we’re going to have to get up again,” said Kolisi.

Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber said the team needed to do better to progress in the Rugby World Cup.

“We have to get better going into France,” he said.

“We’re on the side of the draw that’s knockout from game 1 and just to get out of our pool will be a challenge.

“Everyone would know that it’s our aim to go back-to-back and retain the World Cup and we can’t hide from it. We want to be the second team to successfully defend it and the bonus would be that we’d be the first team to win four world cups.

“It’s a massive thing that we’re playing for, and you can talk around it but that’s our goal,  and to achieve it we’ll have to get better.”

Nienaber said the Wales team was not the strongest that could be fielded and other sides might have punished the Springboks.

“I think it’s fair to say, and without any disrespect to Wales, they could have picked a more experienced side,” said the coach.

“Like we did against Wales in Bloemfontein last year, they probably wanted to see if their fringe players can go to the World Cup. From our perspective, we knew we were going to get a young guy against us, a desperate guy playing against a Kolisi, and that’s what we got.”