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Racing 92 terminate Siya Kolisi's contract
By Josh Raisey
Racing 92 have terminated the contract of South Africa captain Siya Kolisi after only one year of his three-year deal in Paris.
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The 33-year-old has been heavily linked with a return to the Sharks and that move appears to have taken a step closer.
The 88-cap Springbok arrived at La Defense Arena at the end of 2023 after lifting the Webb Ellis Cup for the second time.
Racing got their Top 14 season started on Saturday with a 31-28 loss to Castres, which Kolisi missed while still on duty with the Springboks in the Rugby Championship.
Kolisi was guiding the Springboks to back-to-back victories over the All Blacks while Racing were getting their domestic campaign underway, winning the Freedom Cup for the first time since 2009 in the process.
A Racing statement released on Sunday reads: “Siya Kolisi and Racing 92 announce that they have mutually agreed to terminate the contract that linked the South African third row to the sky and white club until 2026.
“Both parties thank each other for the sporting moments spent together under the sky and white jersey and wish each other much success in the rest of their sporting careers.”
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RugbyPass reported recently that the potential return to the Sharks was back on after American businessman Vincent Mai stepped in and offered to finance the R17 million (around £726,000) transfer fee being demanded by the Top 14 outfit.
The double World Cup-winning captain’s relationship with the club may have turned sour following accusations by Racing President Jacky Lorenzetti that he had “gained weight, lost shape” and that he was “invisible” in Racing’s playoff loss to Bordeaux-Begles last season.
Reduce club games and increase internationals. No one really cares about club rugby. Give the players more money from the international season. Personally I don't care how he plays for the Sharks or R92. All that matters is that he performs for the Boks. Which he does for sure.
I reckon it would be brilliant to be an invisible player. No-one would see the tackles coming.
Siya Kolisi is not the first Bok underperforming in top14. May be top14 is too long or may be it is Erasmus instructions : " take money and don't return home too tired". As long as french clubs are enough silly to pay them, why they would not go on.
But ,may be this time the end is coming....
Not exactly sure what Rassie would get from such instructions. Anyway.
Of course not all players are suited to playing in Europe or away from home. Same can be said about most SH players. And then again many boks and SH players have faired really well in the top 14 and won titles with their teams.
I remember one of the managers requested Julian Savea be DNA tested because he was failing to deliver as expected and "couldn't possibly be the real Julian Savea"
If you've done the recruiting and the management, and the employee, who performed well everywhere else he has been employed, still doesn't perform, you may just be a big part of the problem...
But I totally agree with you and I think it's a little bit what I write. But,as you said, there are other parts of the problem.
There lots of SA very talented players in top14, some of them unknown even in SA, and they deserve lots of cheers. But ,when they watch Eben Etzebeth with the boks, Toulon people are convinced it was his step brother who played for them two years ago. To be kind I will not talk about H Pollard. Cheslin Kolbe became a Bok when he was playing for Toulouse. Two years later, diplomatic injuries and underperforming appears . I am not sure about coincidence. In french we have a sentence :" Killing the chick with golden eggs". I hope this is what they are doing, but I am not sure, us silly french, will understand. And J Lorenzetti is half swiss...
Lorenzetti talked about Siya Kolisi playing for Racing.He did not talk about SK amazing life. And sorry but he was right.
Was Siya underperforming, possibly, likely, yes. How you critique a player is as important as how you build them up. Lorenzetti saw something he liked in Siya, that is why he signed him. So why then would you tear down a player you invested so much in? If it didn’t work out, it didn’t work out - no need to get personal. There’s constructive criticism and there’s destructive intent- what Lorenzetti did was destructive. He completely razed the relationship to the point where the player didn’t want to play there anymore. At the end of the day, Racing as an organization is poorer for it, bc even though he gets his $ back, he’s probably lost the team bc they’ll never trust him to back them when times get tough. The bigger picture - always back your players, in good and in tough times. If you need to clean house, do it quietly and amicably. It’s called good HR, something that does not exist in the French lexicon.
All is well that ends well. Think it was really unfortunate that the owner of such an influential team would criticize a player of this calibre in such a way. Of course this is a business and all investors want to see a ROI, but its quite another thing to sour relations with your talent whom you intend to have a business relationship with for 3 years. At the end of the day, money isn’t everything - this game will only get better with good player retention and better player performance and advocacy. Future recruits beware of this owner. Best of luck to you Siya.
Big paycheck + a year in Paris = not bad
I live in France. You think a year in Paris is an attractive proposition? I wouldn't even do it if you paid.
Nice. Come home where you’re appreciated.