Stormers director of rugby John Dobson says that Cheslin Kolbe will likely miss the remainder of the Springboks season.
The double World Cup winner broke his jaw in the early stages of the third Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Test match against the All Blacks in Soweto, which has delayed his second Stormers debut after re-joining the Cape-based club after nine years abroad.
Kolbe enjoyed spells in France with Toulouse and RC Toulon before three years in Japan with Suntory Sungoliath. His return to the blue and white hoops of the Stormers has been highly anticipated and Dobson says that it is set to occur before the end of the year.
Springboks speedster set for December return
However, he revealed that the speedster is unlikely to pull on the Green and Gold jersey again in 2026.
“I think it was two months from when he sustained that injury, which was the Soweto Test,” Dobson said of Kolbe’s return-to-play date.
“So, look Chessie is not going to make the Springboks tour but he’s available for us from the start of December, our first game back.
“He’s attending team meetings; he’s so involved. We can’t wait to have him. There’s a silver lining in that.”
The Stormers boss said that there was a chance that he may well feature in the latter stages of South Africa’s Nations Championship campaign but admitted that he wasn’t close enough to the situation to know for certain.
“I’m sure the Springboks are going to miss him on the end of your tour. I don’t know if he makes it, maybe later on in the tour, I’m not close enough to it, but I know he’s with us from the beginning of December onwards,” he added.
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In classic Dobson fashion, he made light of the situation, joking that Kolbe would come back into the fold in good shape as he won’t be able to make the most of his mandatory rest period, dubbed as the ‘beer and braai break’ in South African circles, with the speedster restricted to a liquid diet as his jaw heals.
“What’s also nice is that he can’t have been eating a rare eland or anything, but he has had his rest,” he added.
“In South African rugby speak, they have three-week compulsory rest periods called beer and braai. I think neither would apply for Cheslin but at least he’s got his rest and he’s raring to go, so he’s very excited by that.”
Cheslin Kolbe struggles with liquid diet
Appearing on the For the Love of Rugby South Africa podcast, Kolbe revealed how difficult that diet has been for him.
“It’s the most frustrating injury to have,” he told former Springboks prop Steven Kitshoff.
“Firstly, you can’t eat, you have a swollen face for about three weeks, got a lot of pain. The worst is you get home, your wife’s cooking or getting dinner ready, or you’re having to go buy food, and you can’t eat at all.
“Sometimes I’ll just walk out of the house and walk around while the family’s eating because it’s frustrating, and all I could obviously do is be on a liquid diet, having to drink everything out of a straw, and the amount of things you thought that you can’t put in a blender – I’ve probably put in a blender because I was craving a piece of steak, a piece of sausage, even chocolate. It’s the second time that I broke my jaw.”