Siya Kolisi: South Africa's rugby hero may lose his captaincy for the Springboks!

South African hero Siya Kolisi may be stripped of his Springboks captaincy if his club, Racing 92, doesn't let him play in their upcoming Test matches.

According to Sky Sports, the Springbok head coach, Rassie Erasmus, said: "Siya Kolisi is playing some of his best rugby, but I prefer to have my captain locally based as that allows for more interaction."

"This is a unique situation, and I think he will play some Test matches, he certainly wants to, but we are not sure about the captaincy."

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18 of the 33-man South Africa squad are over the age of 30, with Kolisi turning 33 in June. It is expected they will be phased out to bring a younger generation in for the 2027 World Cup.

Kolisi may be about to lose his captaincy, but his journey from poverty to World Cup-winning captain is one of the greatest sports stories ever.

When the 'Springboks' won the Webb Ellis Cup in 1995, marking the end of apartheid in the country and Nelson Mandela handing over the trophy, the win inspired captain Kolisi to get out of his terrible situation.

Speaking to ITV, Kolisi said: "Look what the sport did in 1995. Without that, I wouldn't be here. There were people before that who fought for people that look like me to be in the jersey."

The South African captain is one of the greatest rugby captains in history, but the likelihood of him ever reaching these heights seemed slim in his childhood.

According to the BBC, the two-time World Cup winner grew up in a township called Zwide, Port Elizabeth, where he experienced starvation and violence.

Kolisi's mother was 16 when he was born, while his dad was still at school. Being brought into the world by children was going to be an uphill battle from the start.

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According to the BBC, Kolisi said: "It went past being hungry; it was actually painful in your stomach. I could feel my intestines twisting in the middle of the night."

"I would scream to my grandmother, and she would get me sugar water, and it would settle it down."

News 24 reported that the South African legend was brought up by his grandmother after losing his mother when he was just 15 years old.

"I'd be walking to school and seeing someone getting beaten in the middle of the street and no one doing anything about it because people felt it wasn't their business."

"I couldn't make a difference for my mum or for my aunt. But now I have a voice. I want to be one of the people that makes change because I want change."

Luckily for Kolisi, the inspiration he took from the 1995 team at four years old was enough for him to take his rugby to the next level, earning a scholarship at Grey High School and escaping the life of poverty, according to News 24.

Since earning his scholarship, Kolisi has gone on to have a 12-year professional career, securing nearly 100 appearances for South Africa and winning two World Cups, the BBC reported.

The South African captain's story shows the importance of success for the South African rugby team, with their being a child who's going through the same troubles as Kolisi did.

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