Siya Kolisi’s switch to French Top 14 club Racing 92 after the 2023 Rugby World Cup sets the scene for more high-profile musical chairs among the Springboks.

Kolisi has become an integral member of the Sharks, after joining the Durbanites in 2021, but has been granted an early release from his contract.

The success and the inclusion of South African teams in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship and European Champions and Challenge cups has potentially mitigated the mass exodus of the country’s leading players which appears to be inevitable following the Boks’ bid to defend their world title in France.

However, marketable players like Kolisi will always be marquee targets for cash-rich clubs abroad, and the potential to pad the retirement fund before hanging up their boots remains a big attraction for those born in SA.

ICYMI – Siya to join Racing from Sharks

In 2022, the likes of Damian de Allende, Faf de Klerk and Lood de Jager left their respective clubs in England and Ireland and signed with Japan Rugby League One clubs, while Eben Etzebeth headlined an influx of top talent to the Sharks when he arrived from Toulon.

DHL Stormers stalwart Steven Kitshoff will head to Ireland to join Ulster at the end of the 2022-23 campaign, while Cheslin Kolbe is reportedly set to leave French giants Toulon and take up a lucrative deal in Japan before the start of the World Cup.

Vodacom Bulls skipper Marcell Coetzee’s mid-season stint in Japan has boosted his bank balance, as well as given him a break from the challenge of cross-hemisphere conditions that comes with campaigning in Europe and the Republic simultaneously.

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The meteoric rise of Evan Roos, Canan Moodie and Kurt-Lee Arendse last year has significantly elevated their status, so who’s to say career-changing offers are not being proposed to them or considered by their respective representatives, to strike while the iron is hot.

The Stormers looked to have staved off suitors for Damian Willemse with a long-term deal until at least 2027, but given the leverage of his breakout 2021-22 campaign, the versatile playmaker will remain a sought-after commodity.

With the green light given to Kolisi by the Sharks to check out early, the possibility of more shock departures or lucrative dealings could be well and truly on the cards.

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