'I'm doing whatever it takes.for the team to be better'

Cheslin Kolbe, the Springboks' ultimate utility man, tells Harry Latham-Coyle about overcoming his diminutive size and difficult upbringing to make history with his 'brothers'

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Rassie Erasmus has plenty of great Springboks in his South Africa squad but there is just one individual he describes as a "once in a lifetime" talent. It's not Siya Kolisi, his double World Cup-winning captain. Nor Eben Etzebeth, the most capped Test player in his country's history, either.

No, Erasmus reserves the highest of praise for a man a foot shorter and nearly 8st lighter than some of his teammates. In just 38 caps for his country, Cheslin Kolbe has become one of the Springboks' most crucial cogs, a comic book creation with flashing feet, rhinoceros beetle strength and a tool belt befitting of South Africa's ultimate utility figure.

Want emergency scrum half cover to enable you to pick seven forwards on the bench for a World Cup final? Kolbe is happy to oblige. Fly half struggling with the boot and an alternative required? The wing will step up, with few issues. Fancy trying something funky with a back throwing into a lineout? The 31year-old can do that, too.

"I'm blessed with the skillset I have, but I work quite hard on it," Kolbe tells The Independent when asked how he came to be quite such a conjuror. From his time playing touch barefoot on the streets of the Western Cape through his stint on the sevens circuit, which included an Olympic bronze medal, he has never been afraid to try things.