Siya Kolisi nominated for top award

Springbok captain Siyamthanda Kolisi has been nominated for the Laureus Sports Awards sporting moment of the month for July.

Kolisi was recently appointed as the first black Springbok captain and in his first series‚ led the Springboks to a 2-1 win against England last month.

In the Test matches that the Springboks won in Johannesburg (42-39) and Bloemfontein (23-12)‚ South Africa had to claw their way back from 21 and 12-point deficits to avoid a series defeat.

Kolisi‚ who wears the number six jersey as a multi-skilled and versatile loose-forward‚ led the Springboks out for his first test as captain at Ellis Park on June 9.

Ellis Park is also the same ground where the Springboks won the 1995 Rugby World Cup final against New Zealand where then captain Francois Pienaar wore the number six jersey.

Former president Nelson Mandela presented Pienaar with the William Webb-Ellis trophy also wearing the number six in a moment that has now been frozen in history as one of the most significant in South African sports.

Kolisi‚ who made his debut as a substitute against Scotland in Mbombela on June 15‚ 2013‚ has appeared in more than a 100 Super Rugby matches for the Stormers and has played for the Springboks 31 times.