Springboks captain Siya Kolisi upbeat over recovery ahead of Rugby World Cup

With just 80 days to the start of the quadrennial world championships, Kolisi continues to work his way back to fitness after suffering a serious knee injury while doing duty for the Sharks in April.

Though it has been confirmed he will likely not play any part in the condensed Rugby Championship next month, Kolisi confirmed he is in high spirits regarding his steady progress.

"Rehab is going well. I'm working hard, and it's great to be working in a team environment. I think it helps a lot, with my mental side as well, just to see the work that's happening, I think if I wasn't here I'd actually miss out on a lot that the group is doing", he told reporters in Pretoria. 

"it's really good to do the rehab here because I've got guys that I can lean on, like RG [Snyman], Handre [Pollard] and Pieter-Steph [du Toit] who I've been speaking a lot with."

It is not the first time Kolisi has had to recover from a knee injury in the lead-up to a World Cup. In 2019 the skipper raced against time for the global showpiece in Japan, where he became the first black Springbok to lift the Web Ellis trophy.

This time around, he can lean on his own experience of recovering under pressure.

"Ask doc [laughs]. No I feel good, obviously, each day is different, but I take it day by day. But the nice thing is I've been here before. I've been through this, I know I just gotta take each day, but I'm feeling good and confident that I'll be fine."

SA Rugby director of rugby Rassie Erasmus and coach Jaques Nienaber have shown great faith in the Qeberha-born flanker by including him in the ongoing camp in Pretoria, despite his current unavailability.

Though he won't play any part in the Rugby Championship, Kolisi takes plenty of motivation from the backing of the Boks management.