Cheslin Kolbe celebrated his crowning as South Africa’s Player of the Year with a typical five pointer in Japan’s League 1 match this past weekend, but had it not been for Rassie Erasmus’s intervention in 2018 Kolbe could easily have been on the wing for France in Paris in their Guinness Six Nations title triumph.
Kolbe, born and raised in Cape Town’s northern suburbs, was always a good player at Western Province and the DHL Stormers, but it was at Toulouse, in France, where he became an exceptional player — and the best winger in the world.
Kolbe, who played for Toulouse and Toulon for more than five years, would have qualified to play for the French national team had he not been picked, out of France, for the Springboks by Erasmus in 2018’s Rugby Championship.
Kolbe would debut against the Wallabies in Brisbane in a 23-18 defeat, but a week later would be inspirational as the Springboks beat the All Blacks 36-34 in Wellington, New Zealand.
Fitness permitting, he has been a permanent fixture on the wing for the Springboks since that trek Down Under and the only surprise is that he has only played 39 Test matches for the Boks to date.
For Toulouse and Kolbe it was rugby love at first sight and a rugby marriage made in heaven.
His playing pedigree, at 31 years old, would have him closer to 80 Tests than 40 Tests.
Crucially, he has played those 39 Tests for South Africa because Kolbe could so easily have been the little guy who South Africa lost in a big way.
The use of little and big is deliberate because Kolbe, despite being a sensation for the Blitzboks Sevens, and a standout for Western Province and the Stormers since his debut in 2012, had to always battle the South African rugby mindset of a decade ago that he was too small to play international rugby.
Kolbe, now 31, played 43 times for Western Province and 49 matches for the Stormers in a five-season period before leaving for France in 2017.
Somehow, he was not a national consideration on his departure, with a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics being his only national rugby treasure.
But if ever a player picked the right location for his skill set and the right crowd and teammates in terms of an appreciation of his powers, then it was Kolbe’s choice of Toulouse.
The French giants have won more Investec Champions Cup titles than any team and they have consistently, over time, dominated the French Top 14.
For Toulouse and Kolbe it was rugby love at first sight and a rugby marriage made in heaven.
Kolbe’s form, from the moment he arrived in Toulouse, could not be ignored. I championed his inclusion in the Boks, as a columnist for Sport24. The headline, for the column published on January 3 2018, screamed: Scrap the 300-Test ruling and make Cheslin Kolbe a Bok!
The French media, in his first season, judged him the best foreign import in the French Top 14 and Toulouse coach Ugo Mola described Kolbe as a player who fills stadiums because of his attacking brilliance.
Fortunately, Erasmus, on his appointment as Bok coach in 2018, shared the enthusiasm of Mola, the French media and the likes of me, back in South Africa, when it came to Kolbe.
The rest is history — and the most golden periods of Bok history.
Kolbe last week was honoured as the country’s best rugby player in a shortlist of superstars that included Ox Nche, Damian de Allende, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Eben Etzebeth. Every one of that shortlist makes a World XV.
Kolbe currently plays in Japan and it would be a fairy-tale if his career was to reach its conclusion in South Africa, somewhere close to home in the Western Cape.
For now the end is some way off for Kolbe, who is part of the charging Boks wanting a third successive World Cup gold medal in Australia in 2027.
In Cape Town, last Thursday, Kolbe was acknowledged for what he did in a Springbok jersey in 2024, but the full picture is what he has done since 2012 in those matches for WP (43), the Stormers (49), Toulouse (82), Toulon (30), the Blitzbokke, Tokyo Sungoliath and in his 39 Tests for the Boks.
With the exception of Super Rugby, he has won everything; a Currie Cup, Top 14, Champions Cup, Challenge Cup, Rugby Championship, British & Irish Lions series, two Rugby Championships and two World Cups.
Wow!
If Pieter-Steph du Toit is the best forward in world rugby, then Kolbe is the world’s best back.
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