[imagesource:  Gianluigi Guercia/AFP/Getty Images]

Welcome to day 508 of 1 449 as rugby world champions.

Today also brings with it the news that the British & Irish Lions tour, which looked likely to be moved to the UK, will go ahead on South African shores, so there’s something else for rugby fans to celebrate.

Springbok skipper Siya Kolisi will lead the side in that series, which is going to be a titanic battle, but he’s grown used to overcoming adversity.

His journey from the Zwide township to rugby superstar, via Grey PE and later Western Province and the Stormers, has been well documented.

Now he’s off to the Sharks (you’re welcome, Mikey P), and the next challenge, but it’s worth revisiting what came before.

Kolisi sat down with Carte Blanche, who shed some light on that journey, and the man who helped make it possible:

When he walked through the doors of Grey High School on a scholarship a decade earlier, he seized the opportunity he’d been given by an anonymous sponsor and became one of the most inspirational stories of our time.

Kolisi speaks about the man who changed his life and career trajectory and, with the Sharks team under new ownership in Durban, we ask what’s in store for South African rugby as Kolisi and new investors reignite the franchise to compete in the PRO16 tournament later this year.

Must be fantastic to have your rugby union run by actual businessmen with proven acumen, as opposed to the utterly depressing mess at the Western Province Rugby Football Union.

But you’re here for Siya’s uplifting story, so let’s stick to that script:

[source:carteblanche]