"It was indeed a massive thing," Kolisi says in his autobiography Rise (HarperCollins, 2021), ghostwritten by English writer Boris Starling. There are still racist elements in the sport and those elements labelled coach Rassie Erasmus' decision to name Kolisi captain a political appointment. Because of such thinking, Kolisi's success or failure wasn't going to affect him alone. South Africa handled themselves well, winning eight of their 13 Tests, including two against the Lions to win that series. This is one of the most inspirational symbols in South African culture - and Starling would have done better had he encapsulated that.

Source: The North Africa Journal December 28, 2021 10:15 UTC