Cape Town - Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has given his backing to the team’s captain Siya Kolisi.

After being named the first black Springbok captain, Kolisi led the Boks in 13 of their 14 Tests in 2018.

The Boks won seven of the 13 Tests under Kolisi’s leadership and Erasmus has backed the 27-year-old heading into next year’s Rugby World Cup in Japan.



“There are still some people who would love to see the Boks fail... some people still upset about the past... Siya doesn’t get positive feedback everywhere he goes,” Erasmus told England’s Daily Mirror.



“But the way he's handled it so far... I’ve got no doubt that... barring injury or something really bad going wrong, he’ll be our captain through to Japan.”



Kolisi featured in Erasmus’ Barbarians line-up that beat Argentina 38-35 at Twickenham over the weekend.



Erasmus picked 13 Springboks in his match-day squad for the year-end clash.

READ: Rassie on Jantjies drop: ‘We learnt lessons from England loss'