Port Elizabeth (South Africa) (AFP)

Kid, he made his first passes on the field of his school. Twenty years later, Black Springbok captain Siya Kolisi returned to the township of his childhood with a gift to the Rugby World Cup.

After Pretoria, Johannesburg, Soweto, Durban and East London, the caravan of XV South Africa passed Sunday by c, penultimate stage of its tour of celebration of the planetary title wrested from England (32-12) November 2 .

Despite the drizzle and the cold wind, thousands of people pressed along the streets of the city to cheer, standing on their double-decker bus, the victorious "warriors" hired by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

A visit back to the roots for the first black captain of a team reserved for whites until the fall of the racist regime of apartheid, a quarter of a century ago.

It's in the Zwide ghetto, about 15 km north of Port Elizabeth, that Siya Kolisi was born 28 years ago.

In the middle of "Siya, Siya, Siya" bawled by township residents dressed in green and gold colors, his teacher and first coach, Eric Songwiqi, remembered.

"Siya touched his first rugby ball on the gravel pitch at Emsengeni Elementary School," the teacher recalled, as the boys rushed to eat at lunchtime. and they asked me for the rugby ball to go play. "

- "He will go far" -

"I remember Siya little boy, his legs were all frail, but he was already strong, he was sweating passion as soon as he had the ball in his hand, I knew he would go far," he said. assured.

"He loved rugby more than his books, and on the pitch you could see his zeal, his appetite," said Eric Songwiqi, inexhaustible, "I'm not surprised he's becoming captain of the Springboks. years."

It was at this age that Zwide's kid was spotted and, thanks to a scholarship, went to study at a prestigious school in Port Elizabeth. His ascension will not stop.

A few years later, Siya Kolisi was retained in the national U-20 team, then joined the Cape Stormers franchise, before scoring six years ago his first selection at the Springboks against Scotland.

And last year, the national coach Rassie Erasmus, called urgently at the head of a national XV adrift, bombards at the head of his training. A great first.

His uncle Vukile Kolisi, 47, has not returned yet.

"Imagine that Siya, who started playing barefoot rugby on clay, is now the captain of the Springboks, I still can not believe it," he said.

"I remember how sad I was when, at the age of 9, he came back to life because he did not have any rugby shoes, Vukile Kolisi was still worried. to stop rugby, but he always answered + never +. "

- "Our hero" -

From the end of the victorious final against England, Siya Kolisi was raised to the symbolic status of the "rainbow nation" dreamed of, but never realized, by icon Nelson Mandela.

"The fact that Siya comes from a humble background, from a very poor family that was struggling to make ends meet, is incredible," said the first blackbeard Springbok manager, Zola Yeye, in jubilation of Port Elizabeth.

"Siya, like Nelson Mandela, has demonstrated the power of sport to bring people together, beyond racial barriers," he added.

Far from big talk, the success of the local child is first and foremost a source of pride for the people of Zwide.

"He is our hero here at Zwide, let him continue like this," said 31-year-old Luthando Khoza.

"I'm proud that he did so well," said Eric Songwiqi, "when he raised the William Webb Ellis Trophy, I thought I had played a role in that win as well."

In Port Elizabeth, as in other South African townships, Siya Kolisi has already attracted vocations. "He beat all odds and I respect him for that, and one day I'd like to look like him," said 15-year-old Lindokuhle Mba.

© 2019 AFP