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The angle to the Siya Kolisi story that is the real cautionary tale

South Africa's Frans Malherbe, Eben Etzebeth, Siya Kolisi and Marco van Staden at Friday's captain's run in Brisbane (Photo by Tertius Pickard/AFP via Getty Images)

These are exciting times for Springboks fans. Their team – No1 ranked in the world and holders of four Rugby World Cups, in case anyone has failed to mention it today – begin The Rugby Championship with great optimism.

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Much of the squad that triumphed in France last year has been retained and there is just the right blend of exuberant youth to keep things fresh. Rassie Erasmus remains at the wheel and has seemingly given licence to his new attack guru Tony Brown to loosen the reins on what could potentially be the most swashbuckling backline in the competition.

We can add to the mix the return of Mzanzi’s most beloved son. As revealed by RugbyPass last week, Siya Kolisi, the face of South African rugby, is set to leave Racing 92 after just 18 games. He is trading Paris for Durban, home of his former club, the Sharks, which has been greeted as good news by his national team coach.

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Springbok captain Siya Kolisi on his side’s Rugby Championship opener in Brisbane

Springbok captain Siya Kolisi knows that his team will have to hit the ground running in this year’s Rugby Championship if they want to lift that trophy for the first time since 2019.

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Springbok captain Siya Kolisi on his side’s Rugby Championship opener in Brisbane

Springbok captain Siya Kolisi knows that his team will have to hit the ground running in this year’s Rugby Championship if they want to lift that trophy for the first time since 2019.

“Siya really wants to come back,” Erasmus told the gathered press in the lead-up to his team’s Test against the Wallabies in Brisbane on Saturday. “They asked us to join up in the conversation if we want him back and our answer was yeah, obviously.

“It’s nice to have your captain in your country but I am not quite sure how far the deal is or if the Sharks have signed him and when it’s announced. But yes, we know about it and we are happy about it.”

Head-to-Head

Last 5 Meetings

Wins
1
Draws
0
Wins
4
Average Points scored
13
29
First try wins
80%
Home team wins
40%

This is somewhat of a coup for South African rugby on and off the field. It means that the man with the best story to tell will be more readily available for corporate breakfasts, late night TV show talks and charitable outreach programmes.

It also means that opposition flankers can test themselves against a truly elite operator while young teammates get to witness first-hand how one of the world’s best loose forwards goes about his business. The Sharks, already stacked with star power, will now quietly back themselves in the URC and Champions Cup.

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There is, however, another angle to this story. A cautionary tale for any wealthy owner of a foreign club who might believe that merely adding a starting Springbok to their roster will act as a silver bullet for success.

While there is some merit to the argument that a tier one Bok offers the prospect of extra heft in the tight channels, a winning mentality and a bit of pizzazz around the dressing room, there are other variables that have to be in place in order to get the best out of them.

It is common knowledge that Kolisi has missed South Africa. Any expat will relate. It’s not just the absence of loved ones that tugs at the heart, but the absence of familiar foods and sights and intonations.

When you grow up in a particular place the air you breathe, the hues at sunset, the shade of the soil and the shape of the vegetation become part of the great mosaic of the space you call home.

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This is purely anecdotal but it is my belief that South Africans are among the most parochial of world travellers. Perhaps it is because we are plonked at the bottom of an enormous continent with nothing but vast stretches of ocean to the south, east and west.

Perhaps it’s because of our recent history and the mythology that colours our view of the world. Whatever the reason, South Africans of all stripes seem to fizz with giddiness whenever we see someone carrying our nation’s flag at a music festival or we hear a familiar accent at a foreign bar. “You’re from South Africa!” we exclaim with zeal. “No way! Me too!”

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In short, if you want a South African to perform at their best abroad it might help to create a feeling of home away from home. The two best examples of this have been found south-west of Manchester and north-west of London where cohorts of Saffas turned Sale Sharks into title contenders and morphed Saracens into one of rugby’s greatest dynasties.

Over the years I have spoken with key figures from these two English teams and familiar themes emerged. Faf de Klerk, who played 101 matches for Sale across five years, said that it was “great to hear South African accents, especially Afrikaans accents. It makes me feel like I’m home”.

Brad Barritt and Schalk Brits, two prominent players at the so-called Saffacens, have echoed this sentiment. Vincent Koch, Ivan van Zyl, Jono Ross and several others have also confirmed this theory.

They have suggested that on-field performances are directly connected to conversations around the braai. That sharing a moan about the awful British weather while pontificating over the proper way to tan a chop over flames can lead to a higher tackle rate. That packing down in the scrum alongside someone who knows the correct word for a traffic light can compel you to push that little bit harder.

Could a sense of familiarity be the reason why several South Africans have flourished in the more religiously observant Ulster when compared to those who were signed by the other Irish provinces? Is this why Scottish sides have managed to attract South Africans more than Welsh clubs?

So rather than being “fat” and “transparent”, as Racing 92’s owner Jacky Lorenzetti called him, perhaps Kolisi was simply home sick. Perhaps when he walked through his front door and kicked off his shoes, it was the absence of a cold Castle lager and a meander through SuperSport Blitz, rather than any incompatible game plan, that saw him drop his usually excellent standards.

If you were a club owner spending around €850,000 a season on a player’s salary, wouldn’t it be prudent to ensure that such a costly asset has the most conducive environment around him?

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Comments

5 Comments
J
J Marc 102 days ago

Kolisi, Etzebeth, Pollard , all are fantastic and amazing players. But they went in Top14 just for one thing.... the only one who deserve his salary is Cobus Reinach.... this is the only problem.

H
HC 102 days ago

Then don't sign for 3 years... Do a short term deal like Jordie Barrett. Homesick? You're a professional athlete with your whole family with you, not a lonely 16yo au pair...

m
mE 103 days ago

refreshing & insightful opinion piece Mr Daniel G!

D
DP 103 days ago

So the writers angle is “buy at least 3 to 4 Saffas to get the most out of them”


If the owner of your club is embarrassing you in the media then you’ve little choice than to tell him to shove it. That’s what any self respecting adult with loads of options available to them would do.


If Siya wants a massive payday then he can easily get that in Japan.

B
Bull Shark 103 days ago

Let’s deal with the elephant in the room. France just isn’t a nice place.

M
MB 103 days ago

😂

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JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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