Kolbe to cook in Cape Town home-coming
Cheslin Kolbe’s spine-tingling try in the 2019 Rugby World Cup final is the highlight of an action-packed career and yet, at DHL Stadium on Saturday, he is set to play a Test match in front of his hometown fans for the first time.
The arena at the foot of Table Mountain was empty last year when Kolbe, considered by some to be the “Lionel Messi of rugby”, created something special for the global television audience - a mesmerising five-pointer in the decider against the British & Irish Lions.
The Kraaifontein-born Bok speedster had previously written his name into the history books with a spectacular solo try in Japan to cap a victory against England for the eventual world champions.
Lockdown restrictions confined the 2021 series to an empty DHL Stadium, but now the diminutive winger and the world champions are back - and they will have the full support of strident Bok fans when they attempt to clinch a cracking three-match campaign against Wales.
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For Kolbe, who crossed the whitewash in the first showdown between the Boks and Wales in Pretoria, running out in the green and gold is always a reminder of the Brackenfell High prodigy’s incredible journey.
With critics claiming he was too small to make it big as a professional rugby player, the former Blitzboks star considered calling it quits.
Kolbe was a popular player at Western Province and the Stormers, where he vanished from the grasp of would-be tacklers at Newlands in the Currie Cup and Super Rugby. But his career really skyrocketed when he packed his bags for France in 2017.
His electrifying side-stepping and acceleration bamboozled defenders across Europe, and after being shortlisted for the World Rugby Player of the Year award in 2019, he won the Top 14 and the European Champions Cup with Toulouse before agreeing to a lucrative move to French giants Toulon in 2021.
If the 2020 calendar hadn’t been decimated by lockdown disruptions, there is every chance he would again have been in the running for Player of the Year, considering his scorching form at Toulouse.
Kolbe has since been linked with a return to the Mother City and a reunion with the reigning United Rugby Championship winners. And it’s back at home where the 28-year-old is poised to dazzle the Cape faithful on Saturday.