CHESLIN KOLBE ‘RUGBY SAVED MY LIFE’
Cheslin Kolbe once doubted he had a future in the game. Briefly, as some critics continued to suggest he was too small to make it big as a professional rugby player, he considered calling it quits.
It puts his current status into stark perspective, particularly bearing in mind that many experts now view him as the leading player in world rugby. In 2019, he was a nominee in the official World Rugby Player of the Year category, losing out to Springbok teammate Pieter-Steph du Toit. And if the 2020 calendar hadn’t been decimated by Covid-19 disruptions, there is every chance he would have been a prime candidate to claim that accolade, considering his form has barely wavered whenever he’s had the opportunity to run out for French club Toulouse.
As Kolbe puts it, the rugby field is still his ‘playground’. And the game his ‘escape’.
Kolbe’s Springbok heroics in recent times — headlined by his stunning try in the 2019 World Cup final — have sent his profile skyrocketing, but he is still just a kid at heart: rugby is a jol, there to be played for
