Springboks captain Siya Kolisi hits the gym just days after major knee surgery
South Africa captain Siya Kolisi’s mission to make the World Cup later this year after anterior cruciate ligament surgery just a matter of days ago is well on track.
The 31-year-old sustained an ACL injury while playing for the Sharks recently against Munster in the United Rugby Championship, and the initial fears were that he will miss the Springboks’ World Cup defence. But just 17 days after knee surgery, Kolisi hit the gym on Tuesday and was on the exercise bike.
Now this does not give any indication as to where Kolisi is in terms of his recovery, as this may be normal protocol, but it does show the work he is putting in to make sure he recovers as quick as possible.
View this post on Instagram
Kolisi will be part of a 15-man Springboks camp that will start on Wednesday in Durban in anticipation of the upcoming international season, before another one at the end of the month.
Looking ahead to the camps, Springboks head coach Jacques Nienaber said: “With the Vodacom United Rugby Championship nearing an end and the Castle Lager Rugby Championship around the corner we decided to host two camps to get the ball rolling and get everyone on the same page for the international season.
“The camps will include both off and on-field sessions and they will offer us a great opportunity to get the building blocks in place for our first full-on training camp in June in preparation for the Castle Lager Rugby Championship in July.
“These camps will build on those we hosted in Cape Town and Stellenbosch respectively at the end of February and March, which included a bunch of locally based players.”
Springboks squad: Lukhanyo Am (Cell C Sharks), Kurt-Lee Arendse (Vodacom Bulls), Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz), Thomas du Toit, Eben Etzebeth, Jaden Hendrikse, Siya Kolisi (all Cell C Sharks), Willie le Roux (Toyota Verblitz), Makazole Mapimpi, Bongi Mbonambi (both Cell C Sharks), Canan Moodie (Vodacom Bulls), Ox Nche (Cell C Sharks), Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs), Marco van Staden (Vodacom Bulls), Grant Williams (Cell C Sharks).
