CAPE TOWN, Oct 1 (Reuters) - South Africa captainSiya Kolisi will make his comeback for Stormers away to Edinburgh in Friday’s United Rugby Championship clash at Hive Stadium, returning after more than five years to the provincial side where he started his career.
The emblematic Springbok skipper has moved from the Sharks to the Stormers and, having sat out South Africa’s one-off test against Australia last weekend, linked up earlier than expected with his new teammates after the Stormers kicked off their URC campaign with an away win over Connacht in Galway.
The 35-year-old has been included in the starting lineup at openside flanker.
Kolisi spent a decade with the Stormers, breaking into the national team and becoming the first Black captain of the Springboks.
He then played for the Sharks in two separate spells and for a season at Racing 92 in France’s Top 14 competition.
With two World Cup wins under his belt, Kolisi has become towering figure, overcoming serious injury and doubts about his ability to sustain performances at the highest level to again prove inspirational as South Africa came back to beat New Zealand 3-1 in their four-test series last month.
“He's got a big role to play for us,” said Stormers coach John Dobson at Thursday’s virtual press conference.
“He’s such a cheerful presence around the team, just the smile and the songs and everything else. But there's no question that the rugby contribution is what we're after and it is going to be very useful.
“We've been super impressed with his actions rather than words and he was desperate to play last week. We told him to stay home and rest after the All Blacks series but he felt the best way to integrate with new teammates was on tour,” Dobson added.
(Reporting by Mark Gleeson; Editing by Ken Ferris)
