A hero on and off the pitch: a Q&A with rugby legend Cheslin Kolbe

Q: You grew up in Cape Town and have previously spoken about your awareness of poverty and violence in your early life. How has your upbringing played a part in the player and, more importantly, the man that you’ve become?

A: I grew up in Scottsville, Kraaifontein – down in the Western Cape. It’s a community that's really close to my heart. It’s where I grew up and spent most of my childhood and I still go back there. Growing up, the biggest thing that stood out for me was that there were so many kids that could achieve so much, but due to a lack of opportunities or exposure that wasn't given to them, they couldn't achieve their dreams.

Where I am today is because of the things I saw at a young age. We’d be playing what we call ‘touches’ in South Africa, with bare feet, just having fun and enjoying ourselves. The next thing you see gangsters running up and down and shooting at each other. That happened on a daily basis. I firmly believe those kinds of incidents made me reflect on myself and think: this is not the life that I want.

I had friends who were very close to me who took completely the wrong route, becoming gangsters and drug dealers. For me, the biggest thing was my parents and what they believed in. The role they had for me was just laying out a good foundation and for me to be a kid who dreams big and was willing to give everything to achieve that one day. Obviously, I have a lot of respect for my mom and my dad. They sacrificed so much for me, taking me to the best school they could afford at the time. I never wanted to be the young kid taking the easy way… becoming a gangster… becoming a drug dealer. I wanted to be successful, whether I was a businessman or a rugby player.
 

Q: When it comes to iconic rugby moments, there’s an image of you with your head in your hands in the last minutes of the final in Paris [Cheslin was given a yellow card and sin-binned towards the end of the 2023 final against New Zealand. South Africa held on to a narrow lead to beat the All Blacks 12-11]. What were you feeling at that moment?

A: First of all, I didn’t have any intentions of foul play. That’s just the game – it’s literally split seconds where you need to make a decision. In a final, it’s about not having any regrets. Looking back at it now, I’ll take ownership that it is a yellow card. I looked at the big screen and it was on 72 minutes. I knew I was definitely not going back on the field. The first thing that came to mind was that I didn’t just let my teammates down, I let the whole country down. There’s a lot of people, not just in South Africa but around the world, who support our national team.

You’re disappointed and walking to ‘the naughty chair’. But I was calm, because I firmly believed it was God’s calling for me not to complete the 80 minutes. I just sat there, pulled the jersey over my head and I started praying.
 

Q: So, you weren’t watching at all?

A: I literally listened to the crowd. In the quarter final, the semi-final, and the final, everybody was against South Africa – nobody wanted us to win. So, the louder the crowd got, I knew we were in trouble. Certain seconds and minutes went chaotic, then most of the time it was quiet and I knew we had got through. I didn't hear the final whistle, to be honest; I just had one of the managers hitting me on my head and everybody running onto the field. I just stood there and I was like “this is unbelievable”, and went down to say “thank you” to God for pulling us through this 80 minutes, and through the whole campaign of the World Cup. Siya [Kolisi, South Africa’s captain, who also received a yellow earlier in the match], was the first one that came up to me as I got back onto the field while I was praying. His words were like, “we both got yellow cards, not ideal, but we managed to pull through”.

Q: You’ve taken two lineouts to date, as well as a charge-down in the 2023 quarter-final against France. Can you give us some insight into the culture of innovation under Rassie Erasmus [South Africa’s coach]?

A: On the charge. I've been doing it all my professional career. It was all about not having any regrets at the end of the game. I can't take all the credit, because there's quite a lot of hard work from our team that analyses the players. Yes, I had a bit of inside information, because I had the opportunity to play with Thomas [Ramos, the kick-taker] in Toulouse in France for four years, and I did quite a lot of kicking with him, because I firmly do believe he's one of the best kickers at the moment. But I’ll give credit to the analysing team. The guys are putting the hard work in behind the scenes; they are feeding us with a lot of information just to make sure that we are prepared and confident with what we do on the field.

At the end of the day, it’s not about me. It’s about the team. It’s about making sure South Africa and the jersey is in a better place. [Rassie Erasmus] will do whatever he can in a lawful way on the field.

 

Q: Off the field, what are you trying to achieve with your philanthropic Foundation?

A: To be quite honest, it's not about me at all. The name of the foundation might be the Cheslin Kolbe Foundation, but I always tell people wherever I go: it's not about me, it's about making sure that we can give back and we can reach out to as many communities within South Africa.

I wanted to start the foundation in 2017 and had this vision of establishing it one day. I left South Africa in 2017 to play my rugby abroad but I continued to work on it. I had the opportunity to work with Investec, and a big part of the bank’s ethos is also about giving back.

Q: So, this work extends beyond simply supporting the area where you grew up?

A: I need to make sure that I look after the community – that's where we started, in Scottsville and in Belhar, where my wife is from. What the foundation consists of is full supplementary education, sport and then community upliftment. That’s because before you can touch on education, sport or community upliftment, kids need to have something in their stomachs to think, to have energy. During Covid-19, I went to work out with a lot of other foundations in the community and within the Western Cape. Families lost jobs during Covid-19, and they couldn't look after the house, they couldn't make sure that the kids had a meal. Some of them weren't sure whether they would have something for the day.

Where we want to take the foundation is to make sure that we can reach out to as many kids as possible and just grant them an opportunity to go back to school, to become a CEO of a business, to set up their own business, or to become a sport national leader. I might not have had the best growing up, but I was better off than someone else.

Yes, I'm fortunate enough to represent my country and play a sport that I enjoy so much, but knowing that there is a kid out there who’s probably a way better player than me but doesn't have an opportunity. We believe that each and every kid, each and every South African, deserves a fair opportunity to bring something out of their lives.

Cheslin Kolbe, a 2025 World Rugby Awards Men’s 15s Player of the Year nominee, has been an Investec brand ambassador since 2022. Our support extends to providing international banking and wealth management services to Cheslin and the Kolbe family, including setting up the Kolbe Foundation through Investec Strategic Philanthropy, in South Africa.