A “French exit” according to the Google results for “French exit meaning” is defined as: “A hasty exit made without saying farewells to anybody”. Straight off the bat I have to clear up that that’s not the play from South Africa’s heroic Rugby World Cup winning captain, Siya Kolisi. In fact, quite the opposite. The first piece of content I saw today was a lengthy tweet from Kolisi announcing that he’s agreed to join Racing 92 at the conclusion of the 2023 Rugby World Cup. And the internet is talking a lot about it.
Should he still be captain after the World Cup? Should the Springbok captain be based in South Africa? Is it weird that the Sharks and Racing 92 (competitors) collaborated on the deal and aim to build a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship? And the toughest question of all – is South Africa happy for him, or will there be sour grapes?
Sharks make big money moves
The Sharks have made some pretty big moves since the Roc Nation takeover in 2021. New York lawyer Marco Masotti, backed by hip-hop icon Jay Z and his global consortium, have shown that they have the cash to take the Sharks to a new level. They bought Eben Etzebeth back from France, lured Mbonambi and Kolisi away from the Stormers and put Rohan Janse Van Rensburg on a flight home from the UK in order to build a side strong enough to challenge for domestic and international honours – and hopefully fill a few more seats at King’s Park in the process as well.
Kolisi, who joined the Sharks early 2021, has managed to have his contract in Durban cut short to enable his speedy move to France in 2023 in a highly collaborative, ‘big picture’ kind of way with his new club Racing 92. Before I dig in to why that’s a little weird, let me say that I’m pretty excited for Kolisi as a person and as a player. I’ve no doubt that he’ll be earning a fat paycheque and become an even better player in what has become the most competitive club scene in world rugby.
But there’s something quite strange about the long-term, mutually beneficial relationship between two competing clubs. Is it part of a plan to ship even more players out of South Africa and into France? Are Lukhanyo Am and Makazole Mapimpi, who are also represented by Roc Nation, next on the list? If so, why should I care? Seeing South African rugby players – especially those from humble beginnings – flourish and get their well-earned bucks is something worth celebrating, but the unfortunate payoff is that South African domestic rugby is going to continue to decline in quality and therefore popularity.
Maybe I’m thinking too deeply about all of it, but I haven’t been super excited to watch a domestic rugby game in a while – and if our nation’s best and brightest aren’t playing, then I’m sure I’ll be even less interested. Maybe all that it means is the next club rugby jersey I buy might be from Montpellier or La Rochelle. Don’t bet against it.
Does the armband need to live in SA?
The temperature on Twitter is pretty cool at the moment. Nobody is feeling too enraged or betrayed by Kolisi’s imminent departure besides the odd pseudo-nationalist-weirdo – and I’m firmly in the supportive camp myself for the reasons I mentioned earlier. But, there is some dialogue around the captain’s armband and whether Kolisi should retain it or not once he leaves. Let’s say for all intents and purposes that Kolisi is the best number 6 in South Africa when he makes the move, I have no problem with him retaining the captaincy. Even with the Springbok’s slightly shaky Autumn international run, he’s a World Cup winning captain that plays at a very high level. Sure, we’ve seen some dips in form but he’s looking fit and strong and was huge off the bench for the Sharks last week. I’m of the opinion that captaincy shouldn’t be about where a player chooses to earn their club money. If anything, playing in France – home to the number one team in the world right now – will make Kolisi better. A north-south hybrid that knows both sides of the game. The fact is, things can change very quickly. A year ago nobody would say a word against Mapimpi owning the number 11 shirt for the Boks – until they saw Kurt-Lee Arendse play. So let’s see how Kolisi is as a player in 2023 before we start speculating over which bicep will be the next to don the armband.
The World Cup Project
There’s one big piece of business that needs to be concluded before we wave goodbye to King Kolisi – the 2023 Rugby World Cup. There’s no doubt in my mind that if Kolisi avoids injury between now and rugby’s biggest competition he will lead the South African team to war. Springbok fans are in a weird space after the Autumn internationals after losing to France and Ireland – which is a little unfair in my opinion.
The Boks lost by 3 and 4 points to the number one and number two teams in the world.
Without a properly recognised flyhalf at the helm and with a few experimental inclusions.
We saw England lose patience with Eddie Jones, dismissing him months before the competition, and we’d be silly to make any brash personnel changes in our own camp if we want to retain the title. It would be cool if Rassie stopped pissing everybody off with his inflammatory pot-stirring and even cooler if we could focus on building a side that has the guts and guile to win the Webb-Ellis yet again.
I think we’re just a few good finds away from having a very big chance of doing it.
Our front row got the wake-up call they needed against the Irish and the competition for those 6 jerseys is very tight which is always a good thing. Our second row isn’t a problem area, but our back row needs a little work. Kolisi and du Toit need to find consistent form and fitness and they’ll be okay, but a concern is the number 8 jersey since the departure of the enigmatic Duane Vermeulen – who might still get on the plane, you never know. Wiese hasn’t been amazing and Roos hasn’t been given a proper go yet, but I have a feeling that he might be our guy. The battle for 9 will be an interesting one, but Faf has done it before and Hendrikse, as exciting as he is, makes me worry sometimes. Pollard back at pivot seems non-negotiable if he’s fit, but his defence is still a major concern. Manie Libbok is setting the stands on fire with his calm and assured play but he will need to play a lot of Test rugby between now and the World Cup – and I think he definitely should anyway. Willemse is in danger of becoming too much of a utility player, so much so that he ends up being of no utility at all. Maybe he should get the 15 jersey a little more often and leave the 10s to be 10s. There is much debate about Willemse as 12 as well, a position that really plays to his strengths, but our centres are magic. I don’t want to hear any hate for the official World Rugby XV number 12, de Allende, and I’m sure nobody will argue with me about Lukhanyo Am. The back three is a tough one too. Kolbe had a weird return to international rugby but you can’t doubt his class and, on form right now, I’m taking Arendse over Mapimpi. Full back is an arm wrestle between Willemse and le Roux for me. There’s a lot of Willie haters out there, I know, but I’m not all the way convinced of Willemse yet and Aphelele Fassi isn’t ready.
Anyway, there are some exciting, daunting times ahead – and a Rugby World Cup year is always a good thing. We’ll be watching and shouting at the TV no matter what happens, as most South Africans will too. The same way most South Africans would and should wish Siya Kolisi a warm, albeit a little sad, farewell.