Siya Kolisi has hogged headlines in South Africa – and around the world – in recent days following his bombshell announcement that he was divorcing wife Rachel.
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His story is one of rags to riches and shows that dreams can come true no matter who you are.
Ten things to know about Siya Kolisi
1. Siya Kolisi was born on 16 June 1991 in Gqeberha’s Zwide township, in the Eastern Cape. He told magazine Rugby World that grew up poor and that a brick was his favourite toy as a child.
2. He was raised by his grandmother after losing both his parents at a young age.
3. Kolisi started playing rugby at the age of seven, after, like many South African boys, he fell in love with the game at a young age.
4. His prowess as a junior player for club team African Bombers earned him a full scholarship to Grey High in the Eastern Cape.
5. The best man at Kolisi’s wedding was Nick Holton a former Grey High classmate who helped teach the future Springbok skipper to speak English when he first arrived at the school.
6. Western Province jumped at the opportunity to sign Kolisi straight out of school and he would make his professional debut for the union when he turned out against the Lions in the 2011 Vodacom Cup.
7. Siya Kolisi made his Test debut against Scotland in Nelspruit in 2013 in the process becoming Springbok No 851.
8. The day after his 26th birthday, on 17 June 2017, Kolisi scored his first try for his country while playing against France in Durban. He intercepted a ball that he picked off his ankles, and sprinted in for the score that contributed to a 37-15 victory for the Springboks.
9. He was the third Springbok captain to lift the Webb Ellis Cup – after Francois Pienaar (1995) and John Smit (2007) – and he is the first to lift the trophy twice for South Africa.
10. Siya and Rachel share two children, Nicholas and Keziah, and they also care for his younger half-siblings Liyema and Liphelo whom the Kolisis officially adopted.
What will be your lasting impression of Siya Kolisi?
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