siya kolisi

PORT ELIZABETH, SOUTH AFRICA – SEPTEMBER 28: Siya Kolisi during the South African national rugby team captains media conference and team photo at Garden Court Kings Beach Hotel on September 28, 2018 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. (Photo by Richard Huggard/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

Siya Kolisi ruffles feathers by saying Madiba wouldn’t support quotas [video]

Springbok skipper Siya Kolisi believes Madiba wouldnot have supported quotas in sport.

siya kolisi

PORT ELIZABETH, SOUTH AFRICA – SEPTEMBER 28: Siya Kolisi during the South African national rugby team captains media conference and team photo at Garden Court Kings Beach Hotel on September 28, 2018 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. (Photo by Richard Huggard/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

The latest utterances from Springbok captain Siya Kolisi are bound to stir up some controversy after he was quizzed on South Africa’s transformation policy.

The 27-year-old made history in June last year when he led the men in green and gold out against England at Ellis Park, becoming the first black African to skipper South Africa’s senior men’s national rugby team.

Having donned the same number 6 jersey famously worn by Nelson Mandela during the Boks’ 1995 Rugby World Cup triumph, he was asked what the late statesman would have thought of the controversial quota system.

This was in an interview with Japan’s Kyodo News, where responded by saying he did not think the former president would have supported the system.

“I don’t think he would have supported that, but I don’t know him,” Kolisi said.

“You shouldn’t put a number on stuff like that.

“If you want to talk about transformation, you have got to start there (at a grassroots level).

“Imagine I hadn’t gone to an English school. I wouldn’t have eaten properly, I wouldn’t have grown properly and I wouldn’t have had the preparation that the other boys did.

“It’s tough. Maybe in the Currie Cup you can try guys out and push people in and see how they do, but you can’t just (pick somebody in the Bok side because of his colour).

“In South Africa it’s tough because we want results and transformation.

“The talent is there, it’s just about nurturing it.

“I wouldn’t want to be picked because of my skin colour because that surely wouldn’t be good for the team and the guys around you would know.”

Watch: Siya Kolisi interview with Kyodo News here