Cheslin Kolbe falls short in career goal of being stronger than England rival
Being a winger in the gym with the South Africa squad must be fairly intimidating given the size and strength of some of the players knocking about, but that did not put Cheslin Kolbe off in camp recently. Then again, for his 75kg frame, the World Cup winner is known to pack quite a punch.
Kolbe also needs to hit the gym as he has a lot of work on his hands if he wants to be stronger than fellow winger and England rival Henry Arundell.
The 29-year-old was filmed dumbbell pressing 42kg in each hand with a fair amount of ease recently, but that still falls short of the 140kg that Arundell was filmed bench pressing for reps in England camp earlier this year. Now the dumbbell press is different from the bench press, but that is still almost 60kg Arundell has over Kolbe. Seeing as he is only 20 years of age as well, we can only assume that he has got significantly stronger since then. These are only conservative estimates, but Rugby Onslaught are guessing that Arundell is now bench pressing around 250kg with ease, which, to put it another way, is like having a Frans Malherbe in each hand.
Take a look at the two in the gym:
😂 “There’s pressure!”
Cheslin Kolbe casually doing his dumbbell chest press with 42kgs in each hand 😮 pic.twitter.com/n0wBy3iwjk
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) July 5, 2023
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Kolbe is not part of the Springboks squad this week that takes on Australia at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, presumably so he can continue to work on his dumbbell press.
Springbok XV:
15 – Willie le Roux (Toyota Verblitz) – 83 caps, 65 pts (13t)
14 – Canan Moodie (Vodacom Bulls) – 4 caps, 5 pts (1t)
13 – Lukhanyo Am (Cell C Sharks) – 31 caps, 30 pts (6t)
12 – Andre Esterhuizen (Harlequins) – 11 caps, 0 pts
11 – Kurt-Lee Arendse (Vodacom Bulls) – 7 caps, 35 pts (7t)
10 – Manie Libbok (DHL Stormers) – 3 caps, 10 pts (5c)
9 – Cobus Reinach (Montpellier) – 24 caps, 45 pts (9t)
8 – Duane Vermeulen (captain, Ulster) – 65 caps, 15 pts (3t)
7 – Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz) – 66 caps, 25 pts (5t)
6 – Marco van Staden (Vodacom Bulls) – 10 caps, 0 pts
5 – Marvin Orie (DHL Stormers) – 11 caps, 0 pts
4 – Jean Kleyn (Munster) – uncapped for SA (Ireland 5 caps)
3 – Frans Malherbe (DHL Stormers) – 58 caps, 5 pts (1t)
2 – Bongi Mbonambi (Cell C Sharks) – 56 caps, 60 pts (12t)
1 – Steven Kitshoff (DHL Stormers) – 71 caps, 5pts (1t)
Replacements:
16 – Joseph Dweba (DHL Stormers) – 4 caps, 0 pts
17 – Thomas du Toit (Cell C Sharks) – 15 caps, 0 pts
18 – Vincent Koch (Stade Francais) – 41 caps, 0 pts
19 – RG Snyman (Munster) – 23 caps, 5 pts (1t)
20 – Evan Roos (DHL Stormers) – 3 caps, 0 pts
21 – Deon Fourie (DHL Stormers) – 5 caps, 0 pts
22 – Grant Williams (Cell C Sharks) – 1 cap, 0 pts
23 – Damian Willemse (DHL Stormers) – 27 caps, 36 pts (2t, 4c, 4p, 2d)
