'International rugby icon' Kolisi defies odds after horror injury

Siya Kolisi had difficulty speaking immediately after his Springbok team completed an emphatic 35-7 demolition of New Zealand's All Blacks in their final warm-up match before the Rugby World Cup.

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It was not because he was choked up with emotion. He simply could not be heard above the cheers of South African supporters at London's Twickenham stadium when he stepped up for his after-match interview.

"Thank you, thank you," he said as he waited for the noise to subside.

Then he showed the instinctive ability to say the right thing that has helped make him, in the words of former All Blacks scrumhalf Justin Marshall, "an international rugby icon".

Kolisi, 32, started his remarks by thanking the supporters.

"You remind us why we work so hard," he said. "We do it for you."

Kolisi's appointment as Springbok captain in 2018 was a masterstroke by then Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus.

Barely a year later he led South Africa to glory in the 2019 World Cup in Japan, capping an extraordinary rise from a hungry, impoverished childhood in a township on the outskirts of Port Elizabeth, now called Gqeberha.

The 1.88 metre, 105kg flank forward has led by example on and off the field, uniting sports followers of all races and political affiliations behind the Springboks - a remarkable achievement in a troubled, divided society.

Kolisi's comeback from a serious knee ligament injury defied conventional medical opinion.

His right knee was mangled in a United Rugby Championship match for the Sharks against Munster in Durban on 22 April this year.

Scans revealed a partially torn cruciate ligament, an injury which typically can take between six and nine months to heal.