Over the weekend, a video of Siya Kolisi’s wife Rachel Kolisi being hit on the head by a rugby ball went viral.
The incident took place during the Cape Town leg of the Rugby World Cup trophy tour where Rachel joined her hubby on the bus as they made their way through the streets of the city.
The video shows an excited fan throwing a rugby ball from a balcony overlooking the crowd. She probably hoped that the Springbok captain would catch the ball but unfortunately, it went past him and bounced off Rachel’s head instead.
The look on the fan's face as she realised what she had done was one of disbelief and horror.
The woman in the viral video has now come forward to apologise to Rachel for what was clearly an accident.
University student Eva Henry (@eva.henryyy) took to TikTok to share her apology.
She acknowledged that she is the woman in the video and added that she has been getting a lot of heat for what went down.
“Guys I’ve been denying it for a while, I won’t lie to you, but that is me in the video. I hit Rachel Kolisi with a rugby ball,” she confessed.
She continued by saying that it was never her intention to hit her with the rugby ball.
“I did not want to hit the first lady with a rugby ball,” she continued.
She admitted that even though people tagged her on the video multiple times asking if it was her, she denied it because she was getting hate for it.
“Rachel Kolisi, Siya Kolisi or anyone else on the Springbok team, if you are seeing this, I sincerely apologise for hitting the first lady on the head with a rugby ball. I sincerely apologise,” she told viewers.
After apologising, she added that on the ball there was in fact a letter attached to it. She has remained tight-lipped about what was in the letter but promised she would reveal it if her apology video blew up.
She concluded by once again telling viewers that it was her in the video and that she is deeply sorry, but asked that people do not hate on her in the comment section.
@eva.henryyy my deepest apologies #SAMA28 #fyp #foryoupage #southafrica #capetown #foryou #foryou #viraltiktok #fypシ #springbok #springbokrugby🏆 #siyakolisi🇿🇦 ♬ Lo-fi hip hop - NAO-K
Of course, people jumped into the comment section, but surprisingly there was in fact no hate.
“It’s not your fault girl. It was an accident,” responded one TikToker.
Another tagged Rachel Kolisi in the comment saying: “Mrs first lady, she’s so so sorry neh?”
“With the zoomed video that I saw, I believe you that it wasn’t intentional. Askies to Rachel Kolisi,” said another.