Less than a year after joining French giants Racing 92, Springboks captain Siya Kolisi is reportedly looking to leave France following the public by the club’s owner Jacky Lorenzetti.
RugbyPass reported that the double Rugby World Cup-winning flank could return to the Sharks and play in the United Rugby Championship after starting his stint at Racing 92 after the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.
Kolisi joined Racing 92 on a reported deal worth almost R20 million a year. In addition to the salary, Racing also forked out around R17 million to buy Kolisi out of his Sharks contract, which still had about three years to run.
Kolisi played 18 games for Racing 92 in a topsy-turvy season. After a bright start to life in Paris, the Springboks captain suffered an injury and struggled to make an impact upon his return.
Kolisi was one of the players singled out by Racing owner Lorenzetti after their Top 14 quarter-final defeat at Bordeaux-Begles, accusing him of “excessive weight, losing shape” and being “transparent”.
Ahead of the Springboks first Test against Ireland, coach Rassie Erasmus confirmed that Kolisi will remain captain of the national team following earlier speculation about the flank’s leadership future in the Bok set-up. Erasmus also had a bit of dig at Racing and Lorenzetti during that presser.
“Siya will be captain. Siya will wear the No 6 jersey. Siya has got no injury. Siya is not fat. And, Siya is not transparent,” he said.
Kolisi then played a blinder against the Irish in that first Test in Pretoria, seemingly motivated by the noise that came from the Racing 92 boss.
According to RugbyPass, Kolisi had showdown talks with Racing 92 this week and requested to be allowed to leave after failing to settle in Paris.
The publication believes that the SA Rugby will pick up the bulk of the bill to get Kolisi back to South Africa and grant him the chance to end his career in the country. Possibly at the Sharks.
@JohnGoliath82