Record-breaking Siya Kolisi leads Springboks to the promised land

Siya Kolisi stood tallest at the FNB Stadium in Soweto on Saturday night in captaining the Springboks to a record 55^th Test win.

Kolisi started and played close to an hour in emptying the tank and ensuring that all the momentum was with the Boks in the final quarter.

Siya Kolisi 

Kolisi is a great player and an equally great captain. He is comfortably the most influential player to ever lead the Springboks.

This Test was huge in so many ways.

South Africa originally were awarded the 2023 World Cup hosting rights World Rugby’s Independent panel. Despite the endorsement World Rugby’s elected officials declared France the winner.

The Boks went onto win the 2023 World Cup final at the Stade de France in Paris 12-11. They beat their mighty foe, the All Blacks.

The FNB Stadium is where the 2023 World Cup would have been played.

South Africans finally got their final, three years after the fact, against their greatest rival in the most decisive third Test in the four Test series.

They won comfortably, thanks to a third quarter surge and final quarter control and composure, in front of 85 500.

It was the first time in three attempts that the Boks had beaten the All Blacks at the FNB Stadium. It was also just the third win in 11 matches against the All Blacks at altitude.

The Boks lost 33-16 at Ellis Park three weeks ago, but as the series progressed they grew stronger and were easily the best team at the finish on Saturday night.

Kolisi was pivotal to so much of the Boks’ comeback to level the series in Cape Town with a 33-26 win, and win 29-24 at the FNB Stadium.

His continued value to the Boks simply cannot be overstated.

Big names stood up for the Boks in Cape Town and at the FNB Stadium.

Eben Etzebeth, Kolisi, Malcolm Marx and Pieter-Steph du Toit. They are the OGs in the forwards: winners of two World Cups, a British & Irish Lions series and back-to-back Rugby Championships.

When the Boks needed their most experienced forward leaders to make the most on-field noise this quartet produced the highest quality of rugby music. This was no symphony but pure hard rock in a way that only the Springboks can produce.

In the backs the midfield pairing of Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel were marvellous, in Cape Town and at the FNB Stadium. Cheslin Kolbe was worth gold in Cape Town.

The All Blacks are a different entity to that which lost successive Tests in South Africa in 2024 and got blown away 43-10 in Wellington, New Zealand, in 2025.

The new coach Dave Rennie is moulding a potent line-up that will be South Africa’s closest challenger for the 2027 World Cup in Australia.

The All Blacks were very good at Ellis Park, a threat in Cape Town and competitive for 50 minutes at the FNB Stadium.

They tested the Boks’ resolve, and it took two very important and powerful performances in Cape Town and on Saturday night for the Boks to overturn a one-nil series deficit into a 2-1 lead with one to play.

These Boks know how to win the most important matches, and this one was the most important in South Africa since the third and final Test against the British and Irish Lions in Cape Town in 2021.

It required the OGs to be as present and influential as they were at the 2023 World Cup. It also demanded that the next generation come of age in this series.

We saw that with Ethan Hooker, Jasper Wiese and the maturity of Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu in Cape Town and in the third Test win.

The Boks have beaten the All Blacks in seven of the last nine Tests, which is unprecedented in the history of this great rivalry that stretches back to 1921 and totals 113 Tests.

Saturday night was another memorable one for veteran utility forward Deon Fourie. He finished the final 13 minutes and beat the All Blacks for the third successive time.

KEO UNCUT IS MARK KEOHANE’S WEEKLY SUNDAY TIMES AND TIMES LIVE RUGBY COLUMN