Victor Matfield backs Siya Kolisi to continue leading the Springboks into the 2027 Rugby World Cup

Matfield believes the current Bok skipper to feature in South Africa's bid for a third successive title, despite suggestions that he could be falling down the pecking order following the rise of Paul de Villiers in July.

De Villiers was thrown into the starting line-up at the eleventh hour ahead of the Springboks' opening Nations Championship fixture against England at Ellis Park, earning his Test debut after Kolisi withdrew from the starting XV due to injury.

The former Junior Bok went on to impress in all three matches in South Africa and earned the man-of-the-match award for his performance against Wales in Durban.

De Villiers' first three caps earned him plaudits from all across the globe and most notably from ex-England fly-half Stuart Barnes, who has become a renowned pundit and commentator on the game. Barnes likened the young flanker to two greats of the Green and Gold jersey and questioned whether he could squeeze Kolisi out of the starting role.

"Have we seen the end of Siya Kolisi as Springbok captain? A giant of the game, an all-time great, but all good things come to pass," he said on The Times' The Ruck podcast.

"Has Rassie Erasmus found the man to take South Africa to the next level in Paul de Villiers? We haven't seen Kolisi; what we have seen is his replacement, a young man, come on and be as good as Ruben Kruger and Heinrich Brussow were."

Those comments were picked up by legendary All Blacks winger and ex-Blues head coach Sir John Kirwan, who appeared on the Rivals Podcast along with Matfield.

He posed the following question to ex-Bok skipper: "Are there a few guys in the team, some of the veterans of the team, that are under pressure, do you think that, or you think he's just been resting them to get the best for the Test matches against the All Blacks?"

"The thing with Rassie is that everyone is under pressure," Matfield replied.

"If you don't perform, you won't play the next week. Doesn't matter who you are.

"I think that's why we see some of our senior players really performing well every week. Back in our days, there were a lot of games that weren't maybe as big as some of the other games, and then your performance dropped a little bit, whereas with Rassie, if you don't perform on the Saturday, you might not play again."

Whilst Erasmus has kept a core of the 2019 Rugby World Cup-winning team in the mix, several players have fallen out of favour in recent seasons including Faf de Klerk, Vincent Koch, Bongi Mbonambi, and Willie le Roux.

Matfield has backed Kolisi and fellow Springbok veteran Eben Etzebeth to remain key members of the team, though.

"Everyone is under pressure to perform, even if you are Siya Kolisi or Eben Etzebeth, but I still believe they will both go to the World Cup," he continued.

"We're one year away; they mean a lot to the team. When Eben is in form, he is in a class of his own. Siya is just keeping that team together.

"We've seen it all over the years: there was Sean Fitzpatrick, Francois Pienaar and John Smit; a lot of them came under pressure- are they the best players in the team? But sometimes one man can make 15 guys play better. I think Siya is still very important for our squad."

"He is different; he's not an out-and-out fetcher playing to the ball, but you look at his work rate, his defence is really good. Think back to the British and Irish Lions, and that tackle that he made over the try line, it's just unbelievable," he said.

"And he's actually a very good ball carrier for a smaller guy as well. So, I still think he'll be there; maybe he's there as captain of the squad, and he doesn't play as much. We don't know. Rassie will do whatever is best for the team. I still believe he's important for our team going to the next World Cup."

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