We’re a sentimental bunch, us South Africans.
We get how heartstrings plucked quite a bit.
We love our friends. We love our people. And at times we can be pretty loyal.
It’s the best part of us as humans.
And it sometimes inspires us to do great things.
But we also love a hero. And sometimes we expect too much from them, rather than getting on with work they would expect us to do.
You know, be the change you want to see in the world.
So it gets on my nerves that this drama is happening around Springbok captain Siya Kolisi.
Having been the central on-field figure in the narrative as South Africa won the World Cup in Japan four years ago, Siya is larger than life.
JUST IN: Siya Kolisi likely to make World Cup for Springboks following knee surgeryhttps://t.co/uO0nx5WBIK
— IOL Sport (@IOLsport) April 28, 2023
He is an inspiration to so many and it really is easy to love the Boks when he leads them.
We have a team to be proud. Every single one of us in this country.
That feeling people have about the Boks, Siya is a massive part of that.
So now that he is injured, mense are panicking.
His knee injury is reportedly so bad that he is in serious danger of missing the World Cup in France, which kicks off in September.
He has been told to have surgery, which would rule him out for the rest of year. Or he will be treated to come back in four months.
Neither path of action will guarantee him his place.
So I say, don’t go. Go and have surgery, my bru. Let someone else take your place.
You can still be part of the team.
But we can’t keep doing things this way.
Back in 2011, we had John Smit who couldn’t convince that he was better than Bismarck du Plessis.
In 2015, we waited for Jean de Villiers to recover for his leadership.
And that’s just in rugby.
The Proteas have been guilty of this unhealthy obsession of picking players when they’re not at their best.
Graeme Smith played when he was out of form as captain.
And last year, we had the Temba Bavuma saga over the T20 World Cup.
That was just so painful.
I wished that Temba had just stood down as the bigger man.
There is no shame in saying, you know what, I’m just not at my best. I trust someone else to do my job until I’m back to my best. And then prove it.
That’s why I’m hoping that Siya will be able to look himself in the mirror and say he will fight another day.
By all means, look for a second or fifth opinion about your recovery and I wish him the best. Damn, I’m rooting for him.
But on the day when you see that Kwagga Smith or Marco van Staden or whoever it is who is playing his heart out has a better shot of helping the Boks defend the title that you did amazingly to claim in Japan, then I hope you’re the bigger man.
Doing that will take nothing from his legend.
I just don’t want this to turn into a circus.