Springbok captain Siya Kolisi said he was feeling “more confident” than at any time this season regarding his return to match fitness, and that he wouldn’t be holding back at all when his side faces the All Blacks at Twickenham on Friday night.
Kolisi said he had enjoyed his 40-minute outing against Wales and came through unscathed, but will be looking to play a lot longer against the All Blacks with the World Cup just two weeks away.
Kolisi was asked about his injury and answered that now was not the time to try and protect himself ahead of the showpiece tournament.
“I’m much more confident now after last week. I wondered about how it would be and it felt good last week. Before that the only tackles I had were in training, which is controlled. I’m going to go all out against the All Blacks and whatever happens happens. If it means I get hurt then that is what was meant to be,” Kolisii said.
“If it happens it happens, but I have to go in with the same mindset that I always go in with - I have to go all out. The tackles I took in the Wales game gave me confidence. I felt good and didn’t have any problems with the knee.
“I know there is no better team to test it against and see if everything works, than the All Blacks.”
Kolisi said the Boks weren’t going to hold back against the All Blacks.
“We will not hold back at all. There are 80 000 people coming to the match and we owe it to them to give our all. There are also not many opportunities such as this to face the All Blacks in the northern hemisphere, so it’s going to be a special game,” he explained.
“It’s also our last match before the Rugby World Cup, so we want to make the most of the occasion. Hopefully it will be an ugly, tough game, but beautiful at the same time.”
“Playing against the All Blacks is always tough. So, this will be a good measure for the guys to test themselves before the World Cup.”
The match will kick off at 8:30pm and is live on SuperSport.
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