Rugby World Cup 2023: Siya Kolisi starts the race against time

South Africa will be defending their world title at the Rugby World Cup in France. They are hoping to bring along Siya Kolisi, their captain. The latter recently suffered a serious knee injury. But he is confident he can hold his own.

The countdown is on for Siya Kolisi. Initially announced as out of action for the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France (8 September to 28 October 2023), Siya Kolisi has, against all expectations, been called up to the Springboks squad for the build-up. The South African captain underwent knee surgery in April following a partial rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament. He also suffered a meniscus injury. In other words, his chances of playing are slim.

Nevertheless, Siya Kolisi is adamant. He will be there for the World Cup. In fact, the 2019 world champion expects to play in the warm-up matches. "I hope I can play in one of the two warm-up matches," said Kolisi at a press briefing in Pretoria. "It's not great to be injured, but I've been through this before and it's good to have the support of the coaches and players, as well as the medical team, who are fantastic," he said at a press briefing in Pretoria on Tuesday 20 June. Kolisi will not play in the Rugby Championship matches against Australia, New Zealand and Argentina in July.

"I'm feeling good. The good thing is that I've been through this before," adds Siya Kolisi with a smile. He is referring to a knee injury that disrupted his preparations for the 2019 World Cup. I know you have to take it day by day. I'm convinced that everything will be fine. My rehabilitation is going well. I'm working hard to recover as well as possible. And it's great to be able to do that as part of the team. It helps me a lot mentally, to see all the work being done around me. If I wasn't here, I'd miss a lot of what the group is doing. And there are guys I can lean on, like RG (Snyman), Handré (Pollard) and Pieter-Steph (Du Toit), who I talk to a lot. They've also had knee injuries!

This article originally appeared on Sport News Africa.

Image via Sport News Africa.