[ clock ticking ] as russia sets off a major escalation in ukraine, you'll hear tonight from ukraine's first lady, olena zelenska, about enduring a time of war. >> translator: half of our families are separated, she told us. people are afraid to leave their homes because of shelling. they're afraid even to try to evacuate. we have thousands of dead, hundreds of children are dead. [ clock ticking ] candace tyler's world went up in flames on august 17th. when the caldor fire tore out of

the eldorado national forest and burned the family ranch to the ground. >> when you got hot embers raining down on you and your friend's and family's houses are exploding and you're listening to them and there ain't anything between here and them to stop you, you know your fate. [ clock ticking ] you might think of rubby players as human bumper cars, running forward, passing back ward and obliterating everything in the way. this sport combines the collisions of football minus pads with the fluid continuity of basketball or hockey. it is, as the saying goes, the game for hooligans played by gentlemen. siya kolisi is the first black player to be named captain of south africa's national team. it might as well been a political appointment in a country in need of repair. [ clock ticking ] i'm lesley stahl.

>> i'm bill whittaker. >> i'm anderson cooper. >> i'm sharyn alfonsi. >> i'm jon wertheim. >> i'm scott pelley. those stories plus our new feature "the last minute" tonight on hurricane ian on this edition of "60 minutes." [ clock ticking ] and shows me how to get the most out of my workplace benefits. voya helps me feel like i've got it all under control. voya. well planned. well invested. well protected. covid-19 moves fast, and now you can too by asking your healthcare provider if an oral treatment is right for you. oral treatments can be taken at home and must be taken within 5 days from when symptoms first appear. if you have symptoms of covid-19, even if they are mild, don't wait, get tested quickly. if you test positive and are at high risk of severe disease, act fast. ask if an oral treatment is right for you. covid-19 moves fast, and now you can too.

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in a major escalation of the war in europe, russian president vladimir putin announced friday he is annexing about 20% of ukraine. the region in the east and in the south is only partly controlled by russia because of the ukrainian counteroffensive. in a belligerent speech, putin referred to nuclear weapons and accused the west of satanism. he vowed that the territory will be russian forever. president biden responded that the u.s. will nevecogniz the annexation and will support ukraine's military as long as it

takes. seven months of war have been catastrophic for ukrainian families. many of whom turn for hope to olena zelenska, the first lady of ukraine was trained as an architect, made a living as a comedy writer but awoke last february to a tragedy. overnight, she became an ambassador, a mourner, and the healer of a nation fighting for its life. we met in the capital, kyiv, at a location we agreed not to disclose. the day of our interview, ukraine was forcing a russian retreat. and exposing the horrors of the invasion. what have the families of ukraine lost? >> translator: half our families are separated, she told us, because some are at the front, someone is under russian occupation.

people are afraid to leave their homes because of shelling. they're afraid to even try to evacuate. we have thousands of dead, hundreds of children are dead. >> we were just in chernihiv. we saw the soccer stadium had been bombed, the library, a hospital, public school number 18, public school number 21. what are the russians trying to do? >> translator: they try to frighten people to make them run, to have towns and villages empty so they can occupy these territories. >> reporter: is it warfare or is it terrorism? >> translator: definitely terrorism. the war is being waged using modern means. but from the moral and ethical point of view, it's the middle ages. olena zelenska is 44 years old,

married 19 years to her husband, president volodymyr zelenskyy. their names different because slovic languages surnames are often modified by gender. when we spoke to her husband in early april -- >> we found a way to work. we don't have any other way. >> reporter: he told us his wife and two children were in hiding, but weeks later, he deployed his wife like a weapon. in may, she showed first lady jill biden the war's homeless in western ukraine. in july, she came to washington. and became the first first lady to address the u.s. congress. >> translator: i'm asking for weapons, she said then. weapons that would not be used to wage war on somebody else's land, but to protect one's home and the right to wake up alive in that home. when we met, we noticed what

seemed like a weariness. she was determined to ignore. it was the price of the path she had chosen. to meet her people, know their pain and bear the weight of empathy. we met a man in bucha yesterday. he and his family were fleeing the russian invasion. the russians opened fire on his car. his leg was destroyed. the car caught fire. and he watched his wife and children burn to death. i find it hard to express the enormity of what's happening. and i wonder how you express the suffering of your people. >> translator: i feel like a part of these people. i feel as if this is my pain. the stories are terrifying, and we try to somehow help the survivors. you just told me this man in

bucha had lost his leg. well, a girl, sasha, lost her arm. now she's in the united states. i started a program with the ukraine house in washington, and with many american philanthropists and american doctors and hospitals, we found an opportunity to give the girl an artificial prosthesis. but every time she looks at her hands, she will see what she has lost. sasha will always see what she lost in this war. the world has watched as ukraine has lost entire cities. nearly 500 hospitals and clinics have been hit. schools are devastated. ms. zelenska told us about 150 schools simply do not exist.

about 900 schools have been damaged. we saw what she means in chernihiv, about three hours north of kyiv. public school 21 was used as a shelter when a russian bomb struck. we ask some of those who were there to join us. why would the russians bomb a school? the school principal told us -- >> translator: i thought it was a safe place for all of us. we even wrote the word children on the windows. this is principal lefchenko who lost vision in one eye. natalia was sheltering with her two boys. my face and my ear were injured. my head and my right arm were cut with some fragments. a man came over and helped me up and took me to a car that drove

us to the hospital. when he helped me stand up, i asked him about the -- she couldn't quite say the word, children. children were wounded, but seven adults were killed. another bomb hit valentina's home. >> translator: my grandson's heart was still beating. they were giving him medical assistance, but a lot of time was lost and he died in the abulance near the house. my granddaughter, her fiance, my daughter's husband and my mother were found dead in the rubble. >> reporter: public school 21 in chernihiv had 850 students. how are you educating the children of ukraine today? >> translator: around 3,500

schools will operate online only because schools cannot receive students and because their parents are afraid to send their children to school. ukraine's children went to school this year, and the first thing they learned is where the bomb shelter is, how to get there and what to do in case a missile strikes. we will fight.we wnove ourld up i don't know how we can forgive this. i don't think we will. ♪ >> reporter: after the russians severed communications with the occupied territories, ukrainians dropped messages in the dnipro river with the current and against the chants they would reach those behind the new iron curtain. >> translator: we really hoped

that our love letters were received by someone there, and that they hear us. i truly hope our people will endure. we will never give up our people. and by the way, there's this idea of giving up territory in some kind of negotiation. our people are there. we will never betray them. >> reporter: that is not negotiable in the view of your government? >> translator: i really don't want to express political opinions. that's not my role. but imagine a situation where you've been attacked by bandits. they're threatening you. killing your children. and someone suggests maybe it would be better to negotiate? that is impossible now. this is just my opinion.

as a citizen of ukraine. >> reporter: olena zelenska dated her future husband in college. she became a writer on zelenskyy's comedy shows. in a sitcom called "servant of the people," he played a teacher who is elected president of ukraine. he turned parody into power in 2019 when he actually ran and won 73% of the vote. the zelenskyys have an 18-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son. are you stronger than you thought you were? >> translator: everyone has become stronger. i'm not unique. you survive in going through trials, you automatically become stronger. so, yes, we're getting stronger, but will that help us? i hope so. >> reporter: madame first lady, may i show you some photographs from the united states?

>> with pleasure. >> reporter: this is a picture i took on fifth avenue in new york. >> wonderful. >> reporter: this is san francisco. this is a home in the state of florida. >> it's wonderful. >> reporter: this is a bumper sticker where i buy my groceries. i took this picture on the east side of manhattan. this is a baseball game in denver, colorado. >> balloons. >> and this is from florida as well. what do you say to the american people? >> translator: i can say i really feel the support. when i was in washington, i was handed a short letter written by

a guy named hector, he's a teenager, 14 years old. he wrote me a short letter with words of support. by the way, if possible and hector sees this program, i would like to tell him -- hector, i remember it. i took your letter with me to ukraine and it was charming and it was extremely touching. >> translator: so it seems to me that normal people understand what evil is and that the attacker is evil. that it is normal to defend your country, your children, your homes. i'm sure that americans themselves are like that. >> reporter: what does the future hold? >> translator: we are dreaming about this over these months we've seen the human being is the center of everything. this is what makes us different from the aggressor. they don't count their dead.

we count every person who died, and we want everyone still alive to feel confident and to have opportunities to grow. that's what we dream about. that's how we want to see our country in the future. [ clock ticking ] (vo) while you may not be running an architectural firm,

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the california gold rush town of grizzly flats was founded in 1851. people came for the gold but stayed for the trees. lumber from lush forests supported sierra nevada foothill towns for decades. then, one august night in 2021, the caldor fire roared out of the eldorado national forest and in less than 15 minutes grizzly flats was gone. today, the community's anger is still raw. many residents blame the u.s. forest service for letting a few acre blaze morph into a monstrous wild fire. in our month's long

investigation, we found evidence of mismanagement by the forest service and critics who say its outdated tactics and overgrown lands have led to millions of acres and foothill towns burning needlessly. we went to grizzly flats to see for ourselves what happened that august night when a wall of fire ripped through town. >> i took a couple pictures of my house knowing that that would be the last time i ever saw it. >> reporter: you knew that? >> yeah. when you got hot embers raining down on you and your friend's and family's houses are exploding and you're listening to it and there ain't nothing between there and here to stop it, you know your fate. >> reporter: candace tyler's world went up in flames on august 17th. when the caldor fire tore out of the eldorado national forest and burned the family ranch to the ground. so where was your house? >> so, right here would have been our bedroom. and then over here, this would have been walking into our dining room. >> reporter: the tyler's have lived on this hill top for five generations.

today, their homestead is a charred hell scape, blackened trees stand like sentinels over a shadow world. for more than a year, the tylers and their two children have lived in a trailer. more than 600 homes, nearly all of grizzly flats, were destroyed in minutes. the caldor fire would burn for two months, scorching more than 200,000 acres and costing $271 million to extinguish. when it first started, did you have confidence that the forest service would handle it, would put it out? >> absolutely. 100%. 40 acre fire, you can't put that out in a canyon? don't get me wrong, i lived here my whole life. i know that's a steep, treacherous canyon, but you're still telling me you don't have the ability and the equipment to

put it out? they didn't do nothing. in our opinion, they did nothing to put this fire out. >> reporter: caldor started as a small plume of smoke about four miles south of grizzly flats. it was august 14th, 7:00 p.m. this was federal land, so the u.s. forest service was in charge, responsible for calling in firefighters and resources. we discovered the problem started right away, maps were out of date, firefighters had trouble finding the fire. as she was listening to her police scanner, candace tyler told us her heart sank. >> they're sending them down caldor road. it's been washed out for three years. how are you going to get a tanker down there? have you seen the washout? it's huge. it would take a month to fill the hole in or cut a new road. >> reporter: we went to see what tyler was talking about, keeping national forest healthy, including maintaining roads is a big part of the forest services mandate.

but we found many roads in the eldorado forest were impassable, blocked by downed trees and deep ruts. when caldor broke out, fire engines had to backtrack, a costly two-hour delay. >> i can't believe that it was even happening. it was like watching a slow motion disaster. >> reporter: grant ingram also was listening to his scanner. a retired fire captain with 35 years experience, ingram fought fires for the u.s. forest service and for cal fire, california's state agency. ingram investigated the initial spread of the fire for the local fire district. he believes the u.s. forest service management team bears much of the blame. >> the leadership failed to give the team on the ground what they needed to do to put that fire out in a timely manner. >> reporter: you flat out say it's a failure of leadership. >> absolutely. they failed to understand where the fire was going to go. then they failed to bring in enough equipment and resources to mitigate that fire. and then they failed to protect the community in grizzly flats when they knew it was headed that way. >> reporter: ingram told us one of the most consequential decisions came in the early

hours of august 15th, when the fire was still small. at 1:43 a.m., just hours into the fire, the forest service shut down operations for the night. we'll be pulling everyone off the line for accountability reads the dispatch log. a minute by minute account of the fire that we obtained through the freedom of information act. the forest service told us conditions were unsafe and it wanted to reassess. >> when i worked for other agencies, we typically fought fires at night. that was the best time to do it. >> reporter: but yet this forest service incident commander was ordering people to stop? >> yes. >> reporter: turn back, go home? >> yes. i couldn't believe it at first. fire fighting is dangerous, but you don't call 911 when you're a firefighter, right? you are there as 911. >> reporter: the order to pull out didn't sit well with state and local firefighters who had

raced in to help the forest service. a number of them told us that night was their best chance to contain the fire. they also told us they're trained to fight wild fires 24/7, until the fire is out. none would go on camera for fear of losing their jobs. so we agreed to conceal this firefighter's identity. so when you heard the incident commander say he was pulling out and other equipment, fire engines and bulldozers left with him -- >> yep. >> reporter: what did you think? >> what in the world is going on here? like what the hell? we have a fire. you have to suppress the fire. it's just that simple. >> reporter: did you know that this had the potential to -- >> absolutely. >> reporter: turn into this? >> absolutely, yeah. i think everybody on that hill that night figured if we didn't get ahead of this that night, we were going to be in trouble. >> reporter: the forest service knew it too. this is their own fire model for august 15th, also obtained

through the freedom of information act. the area almost certain to burn if nothing was done is marked in red. the middle of that bullseye, 600 homes in grizzly flats. yet that same day the forest service dismissed some half dozen cal fire engines and crews, letting most of them go before their replacements arrived. ingram told us that breaks every rule of firefighting. the decision to release the cal fire firefighters early, even as this fire is growing, that just didn't make any sense to you? >> it made no sense to me. it should never have happened. >> reporter: retired fire captain grant ingram now owns a fire mapping business. he showed us why he was alarmed. >> this is where it started. and it went all the way up here to grizzly flats? >> yes. >> reporter: on the second day, august 15th, the fire engulfed 200 acres. on august 16th, 700 acres.

that night the winds in the canyon whipped the flames into a frenzy, consuming 11,000 acres. flames jump from tree top to tree top, picking up speed. the eldorado forest was so dense with dead trees and parched underbrush, it was like a pyre just waiting for a match. now everything is on fire. it's all raining down on this community. they're sitting in front of a blow torch, and they can't get out of the way. we saw the glow coming up -- >> reporter: from half a mile away, retired deputy fire chief lloyd ogon could see that blow torch, smell it, feel it. >> we stood on the deck right where you and i are standing. and you could feel this whole deck was just rumbling. >> reporter: from a fire that was a ridge over. >> yeah, it was just rumbling. and that noise was literally like a freight train coming. >> reporter: we met ogon at a campsite south of grizzly flats.

he told us the flames were 30 feet above the tree tops that night. hissing and crackling. ogon said he knew then the caldor fire was out of control. >> the thing i struggle with is why would any resources get released on a fire that is in an obviously high risk location, in a high risk environment? i have not heard what i would term as an acceptable answer to that question yet. i haven't heard any answer to that question yet. >> reporter: the forest service says its resources were stretched thin. the dixie fire, which would become the second largest in california history, was burning savagely nearby, but retired fire captain grant ingram told us there were regional crews available. and he pointed to the dispatch log that showed 12 extra fire engines being called up as the flames were tearing into grizzly flats. but it was too late.

>> all of a sudden all these fire engines start showing up. and it's like, where were they two days ago? why weren't they in the neighborhood of grizzly flats prior to this fire even getting there? >> reporter: why weren't there? >> i don't know. the forest service won't answer our questions. >> reporter: in all the wreckage of caldor, leoni meadows stands out. an island of green in the desolate waste land. the fire skirted the camp thanks to a massive buffer zone the camp had cut. retired deputy fire chief lloyd ogon pointed out where they had thinned the trees and cleared the combustible underbrush. when caldor hit, there was little left to feed it. the fire slowed and changed direction. then ogon showed us the u.s. forest service land next to the camp that had not been cleared. there everything burned. >> there was no management on the forest service side. and that's the result. >> reporter: it's kind of mind blowing to see all that devastation there and it gets to the property line of the camp, where the land was managed.

and this all survived. it's all green. >> yep. >> reporter: could this have been replicated around grizzly flats? >> yes. absolutely. that's what the tressel project was all about, was to do exactly this. and had that been done, there's a high probability grizzly flats wouldn't have burned. >> reporter: would not have burned? >> yep. >> reporter: the tressel project was launched by the forest service nine years ago, when its own research warned grizzly flats could be incinerated if wild fire ignited the overgrown eldorado forest. the agency promised to clean up thousands of acres, starting with 970 acres on the town's southeast flank where the fire would likely hit first. almost a decade later, only a fraction of the work was done. and the caldor fire wiped out grizzly flats exactly as the forest service had predicted. why didn't they do this? it was part of their -- >> i think that's the million

dollar question, i think, is why wasn't it done? >> reporter: residents aren't the only ones who tried to get answers from the forest service. we asked repeatedly for documents, a comment to have the taxpayer funded service tell us what happened here. last week, the forest service emailed us that it plans to dramatically increase the scale of forest health projects, like the tressel project and has launched a ten-year plan starting with communities at immediate risk. but that's no solace for the residents of grizzly flats who told us any trust they had in the forest service has been shattered. last year caldor was one of three devastating fires in the region that started on federal land and burned more than a million acres. candace tyler fears unless the forest service follows through on their promises, more towns, like grizzly flats, will go up in flames. >> the forest service has said theydid all they could.

they threw all the resources they had at the fire. you laugh. >> i laugh. are you kidding me? your maps say we're going to burn. your models show we're going to burn. but you're not worried about it? oh, you don't have the resources?'s aoke. this is cbs sports hq. presented by progressive insurance. i'm james brown with the scores from the nfl today. the kitchen closed early for chef russ in the loss to the raiders. buffalo bounces back as baltimore blows a lead in their own building. the colts bend the knee to king henry, long may he reign. a double doink dooms dalton and the saints across the pond. while philly's physical front gives jacksonville fit. 24/7 news and highlights go to cbssportshq.com. ♪ flo, you're here. this pipe just burst on me. well, you bundled home and auto with progressive,

so you have round-the-clock protection on all your stuff. like that cardboard tv. i told props to switch that out. okay, everyone, that's a wrap. [ bell rings ] wait, you faked this whole thing? i knew it was the quickest way to see you. i'm sorry, jon, but i'm already in love with insurance. you know that's weird, right? well, any weirder than faking a burst pipe? got a little carried away. yeah. don't mind me. i'm just the flu. i'm quite harmless, really. and when people ask, “but aren't you linked to dangerous flu complications, heart attack, and hospitalizations?” i just say, “but, i'm just the flu.” it's him! who? i'm just the flu! fight the flu with sanofi flu vaccines, which help prevent flu in older adults. they've even been shown to provide better protection from flu-related complications compared to standard dose flu shots. don't get fluzone high-dose quadrivalent if you've had a severe allergic

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california, the prequel is pretmountains,oo. oceans, natural wonders, diverse and creative people. but when the out-of-state corporations behind prop 27 look at california, they see nothing but suckers. they wrote prop 27 to give themselves 90% of the profits from online sports betting in california. other states get much more. why is prop 27 such a suckers deal for california? because the corporations didn't write it for us. they wrote it for themselves. [ clock ticking ] you would be hard pressed to find a sport where the captain matters more than it does in rugby. in these fierce pitched matches,

leadership is as critical as raw talent. what, after all is a scrum, but a literal exercise in team bonding. captaincy is more important still when you're a rugby team that represents an entire country. so when siya kolisi was named captain of the south african national team, the first black player to hold that honor, it may as well marked a political appointment. kolisi has responded with a singular approach, reconsidering a macho sport and recognizing how valuable rugby can be, helping bind a country still ridden by crime, corruption and inequality. you might think of rugby players as human bumper cars, running thin ein the way. this sport combines the collisions of football, minus

pads, with the fluid continuity of basketball or hockey. it is, as the saying goes, the game for hooligans played by gentlemen. >> controlled violence. that's what happens here. >> reporter: controlled violence, that's rugby. >> yeah, it's legal violence. and it's legal. we smash each other on the field and then it's done after that. ♪ >> reporter: siya kolisi is the first black player to be named captain of south africa's national team. the springboks. an international rugby power house and national institution, associated for more than a century with white africana rule and power. today in post apartheid south africa, kolisi is keenly aware of the challenges of transforming the team. >> we are human beings before we're sportsmen. you know? and the more we talk to another, the more we understand each other the more we'll get to know each other. and the more we trust each other and open up to each other. the more you get that deeper

sense of connection with your teammate. >> reporter: you're saying if i know your motivations, if i know your story, when we're covered in mud at the end of the game -- >> yeah. think about that. i don't want to let you down. you know, when you're standing there and i'm tired, i don't give up because i know that you won't drop me and you know what i'm fighting for, too. >> reporter: we wanted to see this all for ourselves. but with kolisi, preoccupied with playing, we leaned on his friend and recently retired springbok teammate, tendai mtawaria, aka the beast, accompanied us to an international match in capetown this past summer. he was our rugby guide as south africa played wales. >> they haven't forgotten you, i can tell you that. >> they haven't. >> reporter: lesson one --

making your way to our seat with a rugby legends yields its own version of a scrum. lesson two -- rugby demands a combination of speed, power, durability and poise. and, of course, bone-rattling hits. >> look how hard he is turning up. >> he's going to be sore tomorrow. that's for sure. >> going to feel that in the morning? >> exactly. >> another scrum? man, i can only imagine what goes on in the bottom of the pile there. >> reporter: captain kolisi featured prominently. >> and now kolisi -- >> reporter: making runs, driving forward -- >> that was a good position. >> that was a lot of position, right? >> reporter: in the second half of that game, kolisi scored a tri. >> and it is siya kolisi.

>> reporter: rugby's equivalent of a touchdown. a black captain in a stadium filled of south africans of all colors. how things have changed. you grew up during apartheid. what role did rugby play in africana society? >> massive. it was our holy grail. it was our opium. >> reporter: when former springbock captain francois pienaar played, black south africans cheered the team. but when nelson mandela became president in 1994, he threw his support in moral force behind springboks when they hosted the 1995 rugby world cup. in a country where whites make up just 13% of the population, there was only one black player on the team. >> back it comes to stransky. up goes the kick. up goes the wall! >> reporter: the springboks won the final match, beating their rivals new zealand. >> there it is. > reporter: the triumph was turned into the world invictus, mandela played by morgan freeman, pienaar by matt damon. this idea of using sport to repair a society -- >> i don't think it's an idea. i don't think it's a tool. it just does that.

>> reporter: just is? >> let's use sport and we're going to unite people. doesn't happen that way. then it's false. it's contrived. it's made up. sports are not made up. >> reporter: unscripted. >> unscripted. >> unchoreographed -- >> guts, guts, guts. then it just comes together and everybody is there. everybody is a shareholder. when a nation's team runs out, everybody is a shareholder in that team, everybody. >> reporter: siya kolisi was just 4 when south africa won that 1995 world cup. he grew up in the wind-swept streets of zwide racially segregated area, so-called township outside the indian ocean city of port elizabeth. >> this was my street i used to walk to school. >> reporter: born to young, unmarried parents, he says he

was lovingly raised by his grandmother. money and food were scarce, sometimes all he had before bed was a glass of water mixed with sugar. >> this is where i grew up. >> reporter: he and his grandmother lived in this home with cousins, uncles and aunts. siya says he slept on the floor where rats ran over him. >> the only water source for the whole house -- >> reporter: this is where you got your water right here? >> yeah, right here. and then this is the toilet. and it's working now. but it didn't work when i lived here. >> reporter: some of his earliest memories, his mother bruised and missing teeth at the hands of men. both she and siya's grandmother died before he graduated from high school. but he says it wasn't an unhappy childhood. he made due with whatever he could. >> i didn't have toys. i couldn't afford toys, but i had to have fun. i found a brick, thought it was my car. i loved that brick with everything -- >> reporter: brick was your car? >> yeah. wash it. wake up in the morning, this is all that i had. >> reporter: around the same time, he came to this field, littered with stones and thorns

and picked up his first rugby ball. it was a refuge from the violin chaos beyond the stadium walls. >> this place, itself, if it wasn't around, if there wasn't a team, if there wasn't sport, the community of sport, i don't know where i would have ended up. i was really happy i enjoyed myself. it inspired me. and it taught me who i am. >> reporter: then came a major plot point. at age 12, playing on those fields, he was spotted by a coach and offered a scholarship to the elite, mostly white gray junior school, just 15 miles away. >> and just the building, you know what, looking at it, everything i need is here. compared to what i'm used to. >> reporter: he says for the very first time he was given socks, a toothbrush, three meals a day and his own bed. that must have been such a culture shock to you? >> yeah, it was. but the toughest thing is when i had to go home on weekends. i go back and sleep on the floor.

and i told myself right then that i'm not letting this go. i will not fail. >> reporter: he added muscle, trained hard and by the time he graduated from school was drafted to play professional rugby. rachel smith, a fan of the sport met siya when she was 21. >> siya was young and he was trying to figure out a lot, i think, in his life. i met a lot of rugby players before and i know -- >> reporter: what are they like? >> everything you read. it's true. >> reporter: still they started dating. and soon the country's racial divisions were laid bear. he was accused of selling out. she of, quote, contaminating her white bloodline. they married and have two children. they also adopted two of siya's younger half siblings, but kolisi admits he wasn't immune to the trappings of celebrity. >> my head got big at time.

i spent the money buying sports cars, drinking every weekend, spending the money with friends, you know, and just getting involved in things that i would never be proud of. but i want to be better and i want to learn. i go to therapy. and i get to talk to someone, you know. >> can i talk to you. you very casually mentioned therapy. that's not something a lot of 31-year-old men much less professional athletes would just drop into conversation. >> because it helps me heal. it helps me be better. you seek maybe mentally, emotionally therapy is your medication. i want to be the generation of black men that are there for their children, you know, that are the telling the woman their love them not only by words but by action, too.

>> reporter: 2018, the springboks mired in one of the worst-ever stretches, new coaches were appointed and kolisi named captain. >> he finally told me he had been named as captain. i was just like, what, what! what! and i couldn't speak, so i ended up hanging up on him. >> reporter: you were a rugby fan. you grasped the significance of this. >> i mean, it was unbelievable, you know, just to see so many south africans feel like they were finally being represented in this team. >> reporter: their team beginning to resemble the diversity of the country, the springboks, unexpectedly made the 2019 world cup final held in japan. the night before the captain and wife discussed not the next big. >> we all wanted a big moment. it can be just a big moment, but you can use it for so much more. how can we use this opportunity not just to help us but to help others around us in our country. >> reporter: biggest game of your career. >> yes. >> night before the game and

you're thinking what you're going to do to enrich south africa? >> this is why i'm here. that's my purpose. >> south africa, world cup winners in 2019! >> reporter: the springboks won that world cup resoundingly. you said that victory in japan in 2019 meant more to south africa than yours, why? >> we had a black world cup winning captain. in south africa, in the townships across the land, everybody again was proud. they were world champions. and that is what sport does. nothing else can do that. >> reporter: fulfilling their promise to use the moment, rachel and siya started the kolisi foundation. we accompanied them on a visit to a shantytown outside of capetown. this feeding program provides healthy meals for thousands of kids a day. >> i can't give them food i wouldn't put in my mouth. >> reporter: kolisi says the abuse his mother faced has always haunted him. the scourge of gender-based violence is one of the pillars of the foundation's work. they hand out power to you packs, whistle, pepper spray, and emergency contacts.

>> we actually give it to young boys to give to women in their communities to tell them what it's about. >> it's intentional. you're not going to give these out to the girls and the women. you're going to give these to the boys as well? >> yes, absolutely. >> reporter: for all kolisi's social ambitions, his sights are fixed firmly on defending the rugby world cup next year. [ cheers and applause ]. >> reporter: today, affection for him and the team remains at fever pitch. remember that game we attended against wales this past summer? siya kolisi's try, his touchdown, held up as the decisive score, as south africa won the series. the players were exuberant, if not a little bruised and took a much deserved victory lap. as for the fans, in suburbs n townships and in the stadium, they celebrated wildly. for those few hours on the pitch, the country's troubles and divisions faded. as is often the case with rugby

in south africa, it was much more than a game. [ clock ticking ] what siya kolisi hopes for the next generation of south africans -- >> i want the resources to come here. >> reporter: at 60minutesovertime.com, sponsored by pfizer. peaceful state. full plate. wait, are you my blind date? dancing crew. trip for two. nail the final interview. buy or lease? masterpiece. inside joke. artichoke. game with doug. brand new mug. come here, kid. gimme a hug. the more you want to do, the more we want to do. boosters designed for covid-19 variants are now available. brought to you by pfizer & biontech. welcome to allstate where anyone who bundles their home and auto insurance saves. isn't that right phil? sorry, i'm a little busy. what in the world are you doing? i'm in the metaverse, bundling my home and auto insurance.

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[ clock ticking ] "the last minute" of "60 minutes" is sponsored by united healthcare. get medicare with more. [ clock ticking ] hurricane ian exploded into southwest florida wednesday, carving a trail of death and devastation across the state before slamming the carolinas this weekend. ian's 150 miles-an-hour winds and 12 foot storm surge flattened parts of ft. myers and the surrounding area. it will be days before authorities know the cost and

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[ clock ticking ] previously on the equalizer... (engine revving) robyn: delilah, i want you to meet two of the best people i know. harry and this is... oh! ...mel. robyn, i need to know that you're not putting my daughter at risk. (gunfire) delilah: no! you have kids? (chuckles) nice try. delilah fulton? i'm detective dante. does the name "mason quinn" mean anything to you? robyn: no, no, no, no, no, no! people that tangle with quinn end up dead. bishop. i will always win. i'm gonna catch you again. and this time, i'm gonna kill you. omar delgado. former cuban intelligence turned freelance militant. robyn... if we find delgado, he'll lead us right back to quinn. (groans) who are you? carter griffin. cia. from cuban intelligence. delgado's contacts in the u.s.