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Little Kolbe casts long shadow
PROFILE | CHESLIN KOLBE LITTLE KOLBE CASTS LONG SHADOW
HAVING SPENT THE FIRST HALF OF HIS CAREER PROVING HE’S NOT TOO SMALL, BOK WING CHESLIN KOLBE IS NOW THE BIGGEST THREAT TO THE LIONS’ TRYLINE
The diminutive Cheslin Kolbe has overcome great obstacles and answered critics to emerge, ironically, as South Africa’s biggest attacking threat.
A player like no other, Kolbe’s lethal attacking prowess is based on peerless footwork and stopgo acceleration that makes him more difficult for defenders to grasp than quantum physics.
And Kolbe’s skill set is not limited to the flashy stuff as his athleticism translates to a vertical leap that compensates for his small stature in the aerial contest for the ball, while his tenacity in the tackle ensures the 1.70m, 80kg dynamo holds his own in defence.
Widely considered to be one of the best players in the game, his journey to the top was by way of the path less travelled.
Kolbe’s rugby-playing ability was identified in the Western Cape schools system and his skills honed in the junior ranks of Western Province between 2009 and 2012.
Fast-tracked into WP’s senior ranks, Kolbe hit the ground running in 2013 though his route to global stardom was filled with challenges.
Growing up in the Cape Town suburb of Kraaifontein, on the outskirts of the notorious Cape Flats, a young Kolbe had to side-step the pitfalls that come with the territory – primarily drugs and gangs.
When he finally broke through to the professional ranks – no mean feat for an aspirant player who did not hail from one of the renowned rugby schools in the region – he had to work twice captain, Kolbe was seated among the fans in the stands to support his close friend against England on his big day.
Three months later, the elusive flyer went from Bok supporter to Bok debutant against Australia in the Rugby Championship.
His form for Toulouse in the Top 14 and European Champions Cup made the Bok selectors sit up and take notice while his detractors ate humble pie. Kolbe served a slice of that pie to England captain Owen Farrell in the 2019 World Cup final, capping off a meteoric rise to the peak of world rugby.
A little more than one year before the showpiece event kicked off in Japan, Kolbe was uncapped at international level. Today, the short flyer casts a long shadow over Warren Gatland’s plans to conquer South Africa.
FAST FACT
Kolbe is a cousin of South African track and field sprinter Wayde van Niekerk, who won the gold medal in the 400m at the 2016 Olympics
Kolbe’s try capped off a dominant performance from the Springboks in the 2019 World Cup final
as hard to convince coaches his diminutive frame wasn’t a liability.
Even as Kolbe emerged under John Dobson and Allister Coetzee as a prodigious talent at WP and then the Stormers respectively, he was overlooked by the Springboks. He was repeatedly said to be too small to make it at international level by coaches and selectors and, by his own admission, ‘even players who I played with’.
But everything changed in 2017 when Toulouse came calling and Kolbe decided to see out the Super Rugby season with the Stormers before packing his bags for France.
It was a good decision for someone who many believed had no place in a serious discussion about the Springbok squad. In fact, he was so far from selection in 2018 that when Siya Kolisi made history in June as the Springboks’ first black
Kolbe has scored 31 tries since joining Toulouse in 2017
