Bok captain not trying ‘to control destiny’

SPRINGBOK captain Siya Kolisi hasn’t really given attention to the raging discussions about his reported imminent return to South Africa and the Sharks ahead of the new club season.

It’s probably helped that he and his teammates are in Australia and could focus on the task at hand and not have ongoing talks about his future disrupt them as they take on the Wallabies in back-to-back Tests in Brisbane today and Perth next weekend in the Rugby Championship.

Kolisi is on the verge of making a spectacular return to Durban with talks between his agent and the KwaZulu-Natal franchise reportedly close to becoming a reality as he looks to switch from French giants Racing 92 after only a season at the club.

Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus said this week it would be nice to have the Bok captain back in the country, but he wasn’t too sure how far the deal was, but that SA Rugby has been part of the ongoing discussions with the Sharks to get the double World Cup-winning captain back home.

Kolisi yesterday said he wasn’t aware of what the talks were about his future, but that he is solely focused on what they have to do in Australia to get the Rugby Championship off to a good start.

“There is nothing I can control in my future, but I can only focus on what I need to do right now,” Kolisi said.

“I actually don’t know what has been happening or been said, because I have a match to focus on (this morning).”

What Kolisi was pleased about was the amount of preparation the Springboks had for their double Tests in Australia and how he would be all for it if they could continue with it in the future.

He welcomed the fact that the Boks flew to Australia a couple of days before the match week started so that they had extra time to train and some more rest days than normal to get over any potential jet lag.

“It helped us adapt, getting here last week already, and by the time match week comes, you are sleeping properly and you are in the time zone. It has really been good and we enjoyed it as a group.

“I do think this is the way to go looking ahead. It is so much better for us as players. We have been sharp at training. We don’t have to worry about sleep anymore. Also getting time off, it can’t always be about rugby and we could switch off, walk around, and have a coffee, and that has been good for the players.”