Rassie Erasmus confirms that Siya Kolisi will captain the Boks against Ireland

There was some speculation around the Bok captaincy given Kolisi being based overseas in France at Racing 92. In the past, Bok management has not put foreign-based players high on the list for the captaincy.

This, combined with some eyebrow-raising comments made by Racing 92 boss Jacky Lorenzetti, cast some doubt over Kolisi's captaincy. The flanker was recent sidelined due to a hand injury.

"He had a remarkable start to the season, where he was a unifier off the field," Lorenzetti said in a recent interview with Midi Olympique.

"The break was harmful to him. He gained weight, lost form and yesterday he was transparent."

But Erasmus put to bed any such rumours, saying there will be no denying his, ahem, double-World Cup-winning captain his title.

"Siya will be captain and Siya will play No6 and Siya's fit and Siya's got no injury and Siya's not fat and Siya's not transparent," laughed Erasmus as he told the press on Wednesday.

Japan-based Pieter-Steph du Toit captained the Boks to victory in their first Test of the year against Wales as the Test was outside the official international window, meaning Kolisi was unavailable.

The first Test will be played at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on 6 July, with the second Test at Durban's Kings Park a week later.

READ MORE: Junior Boks fine-tune preparations for World Rugby U20 Championship