World Cup countdown: 6 days to go!
The 2023 Rugby World Cup kicks off in six days and SARugbymag.co.za hails the Springbok openside flankers who made a name for themselves at the tournament.
Francois Pienaar
Pienaar made his Test debut against France in June of 1993, and went on to captain South Africa in all 29 of his Test appearances, the last of which came in August 1996.
While Pienaar’s international career was controversially ended by coach Andre Markgraaf, it will always be remembered for what happened in 1995 under the late Kitch Christie, when SA won the World Cup on home soil. Pienaar was an inspirational leader throughout the tournament and famously lifted the trophy next to a beaming Nelson Mandela, who was wearing one of the captain’s No 6 jerseys.
A physical player who put his body on the line, Pienaar’s leadership was integral in guiding the Boks to their most celebrated title.
Schalk Burger
Burger’s rugby story will inspire generations of South Africans to come.
Scoring a try on Test debut in the 2003 World Cup, and named the 2004 IRB Player of the Year after the Boks’ rampant success, the back-row wrecking ball fought his way back from a career-threatening neck injury in 2006 to excel in the 2007 World Cup-winning campaign.
He was sidelined with a serious knee injury just months after starring for the Boks at the 2011 World Cup, and a year later, he contracted bacterial meningitis and was in a fight for his life.
Against the odds, the 86-Test flanker returned to the playing field in 2013, and produced a Man of the Match performance as the Boks beat Wales in their 2015 World Cup quarter-final.
Siya Kolisi
Arguably the most influential player to pull on a Bok jersey, Kolisi has dealt remarkably well with the pressure of being the first black Springbok captain in the team history.
Having grown up in the Eastern Cape township of Zwide, Kolisi completed one of the great rags-to-riches stories when he captained the Boks to World Cup glory in 2019, and together with Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber, coupling the world title with a British & Irish Lions series win two years later.
A tireless worker, Kolisi marries athleticism with explosiveness in the carry, linking with the backline like a No 8 and taking care of the attacking breakdown.
A nation breathed a sigh of relief after Kolisi made his miraculous return to Test rugby on 19 August after a long injury lay-off that threatened to rule him out of participating at a third World Cup tournament. Another epic chapter about the inspirational loose forward looks set to be written.
