Cape Town – He may be one of the staunchest Liverpool fans in Mzansi, but Springbok captain Siya Kolisi still appreciates a serious soccer talent when he sees one.
And that is what happened earlier this week in Paris, where Kolisi was attending French newspaper Midi Olympique’s ‘Rugby Oscars’ function on Monday night.
The event celebrates the best players in France, with scrumhalf Antoine Dupont – who will captain his country against the Springboks in Marseille on November 12 – receiving the two main awards: World and Gold.
But a memorable moment for the 31-year-old Kolisi was sharing the special occasion with Brazilian soccer star Neymar, who plays his club football for Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).
Kolisi posted a photo of himself and Neymar on his Instagram account this week, with the caption: “Great night in Paris, awesome meeting @neymarjr.
“What a great evening Merci @midi.olympique for a special couple of days. Thanks to the French rugby community and people in Paris for welcoming us.”
Wife Rachel was also in attendance in the French capital, where Kolisi had the opportunity to pose for an iconic photo with all the Rugby World Cup-winning captains over the years who were present as well – New Zealand’s David Kirk (1987), Australia’s Nick Farr-Jones (1991), South Africa’s Francois Pienaar (1995), another Wallaby in John Eales (1999), England’s Martin Johnson (2003), former Bok skipper John Smit (2007) and All Black legend Richie McCaw (2011 and 2015), with Kolisi the 2019 representative.
Kolisi is getting ready for the Bok end-of-year tour to Europe, and will subsequently miss out on the Sharks’ United Rugby Championship clash against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Sunday (3pm kickoff).
The Bok squad will leave South Africa on Saturday to travel to Dublin for next weekend’s first Test of the tour against Ireland at the Aviva Stadium (7.30pm SA time kickoff).
IOL Sport