The Springboks are world champs once again. Image: @Springboks/X
Kolisi bids farewell to departing Boks coach Nienaber
“We love you as a team, not as a coach, but as a person. You’ve taken it to another level,” said Siya Kolisi after the RWC final.
The Springboks are world champs once again. Image: @Springboks/X
Springbok captain Siya Kolisi paid an emotional tribute to head coach Jacques Nienaber.
The 51-year-old coach recently won the Rugby World Cup with the Boks and is set to join Irish giants Leinster in the coming weeks.
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Kolisi, who became the second captain to lift the Web Ellis trophy back-to-back was full of adulation for Nienaber and the entire management after the match.
Kolisi pays tribute to outgoing Springbok coach
“It hasn’t been an easy journey – I can’t believe what we’ve achieved today,” he Kolisi.
“The coaching staff have been ridiculous. I have worked with Jacques since I was 17 years old. I couldn’t tackle. When him and Rassie [Erasmus] used to come to training [at DHL Western Province] it was full contact. You had to show that you could do this.
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“Since then, it’s just been amazing how he used to motivate us in games. We grew up around him – me and Frans [Malherbe], Steven [Kitshoff] and Pieter-Steph [du Toit],” Kolisi said.
Nienaber was part of the Bok management at the Rugby World Cup in 2011, worked as a member of SA Rugby’s Mobi Unit after that and joined the national coaching team again in 2018, before taking over as head coach in 2020 after the RWC triumph in Japan in 2019.
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“Jacques, honestly, it’s been a huge honour for me and a huge privilege. To you and your wife and the kids, I appreciate you.
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“We love you as a team, not as a coach, but as a person. You’ve taken it to another level. The way you speak to us – it’s not ‘make a big hit, make a tackle’, you talk to me as a person, as a father, a husband, as a son, it goes such a long way so thank you. We honour you as a team. All the best. They will be lucky too have you wherever you go,” Kolisi said.
